HlSTOR 

OF  THE 

GERMAN  | 
STRUGGLE 

FOR 


LIBRARY    ^ 

UNIV6P.SITY  OF 

CALIFORNIA 

SAN  oiseo 


03 


K  / 


QUEEN   I.UISE 


HISTORY  OF  THli 


GERMAN  STRUGGLE  FOR  LIBERTY 


BY  POULTNEY  BIGELOW 
^^> 

M.  A.  (HON.  CAUSA)  UNIV.  TALE  ;  HON.  MEMBKR  ROYAL  UNITED  SERVICE 

INST.,  LONDON  ;  LIKK  MKMBKK  AMKIUCAN  HISTORICAL  ASSOCIATION 

HON.  MEMBKR  ROYAL  ARTILLERY  INSTITUTION,  WOOLWICH 


ILLUSTRATED      WITH     DRAWINGS 

BY  R.  CATON  WOODVILLE 
AND  WITS  PORTRAITS  AND  MAPS 

rouR 

IN  (THREE;  VOLUMES 

VOL.  I. 

1806-1812 


NEW     TOUK     AND     LONDON 

HARPER    &    BROTHERS    PUBLISHERS 
1903 


Copyright,  1896,  by  HARPER  &  BROTHERS. 

All  righu  raentd. 


TO 

CARIBEE 

MY    CRUISING    CANOE 

In  her  I  have  slept  by  night  and  sailed  by  day  for  weeks  and  months  at  a 
time,  exploring  the  beautiful  waterways  of  the  German  Fatherland.  She 
has  made  me  friends  with  every  kind  of  man — the  bargee,  the  raftsman,  the 
peasant,  the  wood-chopper,  the  weaver,  the  gendarme,  the  parish  parson, 
the  miller,  the  tax-collector — and  many  more  of  the  types  that  make  life 
interesting  to  the  contemplative  traveller.  By  the  aid  of  Caribee  I  learned  to 
feel  how  Germans  feel.  Without  her  this  book  would  not  have  been  written. 


CONTENTS    OF    VOL.   I 


CHAPTER  PAHR 

I.  EXECUTION  OF  JOHN  PALM,  BOOKSELLER 1 

II.  QUEEN  LUISE  OF  PRUSSIA  BEFORE  JENA 6 

III.  WHAT  SORT  OF  A  BRINGING-UP  HAD  QUEEN  LUISE  .    .  13 

IV.  QUEEN  LUISE  ENTERS  BERLIN  IN  TRIUMPH    ....  20 
V.  THE  Two  PHILOSOPHERS  OF  JENA — HEGEL  AND  NAPO- 
LEON    30 

VI.  THE  EVE  OF  JENA,  OCTOBER  13,  1806 33 

VII.  THE    GREAT   PRUSSIAN   STAMPEDE   FROM    JENA   AND 

AUERSTADT 43 

VIII.  WHAT  SORT  OF  ARMY  FOUGHT  THE  FRENCH  AT  JENA  ?    54 
IX.  A  PRUSSIAN  CHRONICLE  OF  NOBLE  CRIMINALS    ...     61 

X.  A  FUGITIVE  QUEEN  OF  PRUSSIA 73 

XI.  PEACE  WITH  DISHONOR 88 

XII.  COLBERG — GNEISENAU,  NETTELBECK,  SCHILL  ....  104 

XIII.  SOMETHING  ABOUT  GNEISENAU'S  EARLY  STRUGGLES     .  118 

XIV.  SCHARNHORST   MAKES   A   NEW  ARMY 129 

XV.  SOMETHING  ABOUT  SCHAHNHOUST 141 

XVI.  THE  PRINCES  OF  GERMANY  PAY  COURT  TO  NAPOLEON 

AT  ERFURT 152 

XVII.  THE  FIRST  BREATH  OF  LIBERTY  IN  PRUSSIA— 1807.     .  163 
XVII I.  PRUSSIANS  BECOME  REBELS  TO  THEIR  KING,  AND  DIE 

FOR  THEIK  COUNTRY 172 

XIX.  GERMAN  LIBERTY  TAKES  REFUGE  IN  THE  AUSTRIAN 

ALPS 185 

XX.  THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  QUEEN  LUISE 194 


Vi  gONTENTS    OF    VOL.   I 

O1JAPTKR  PAOR 

XXI.  A  NURSERY  VIEW  OP  KING,  QUEEN,  AND  POLITICS.    .  212 
XXII.  THE  FIRST  NATIONAL  PRUSSIAN  PARLIAMENT  MEETS  IN 

BERLIN,  1811 220 

XXIII.  JAHN,  THE  PATRIOT  WHO  FOUNDED  GYMNASTIC  SOCIE- 

TIES AND  TAUGHT  THE  SCHOOL  CHILDREN  TO  PRAY 
FOR  GERMAN  LIBERTY 230 

XXIV.  How  THE  IRON  CROSS  CAME  TO  BE  FOUNDED  .  .  244 


ILLUSTKATIONS    IN    VOL.   I 


QUEEN  LUISE.      (See  foot-note  on  page  82.) Frontispiece 

THE  EXECUTION  OP  JOHN   PALM Facing  p.      4 

QUEEN    LUISE.       (From   ihe  original   bust  by  Rauch   in  the  Berlin 

Museum) "  g 

RECEIVING   NEWS   OP    THE    DECLARATION  OP   WAR  IN  THE 

PRUSSIAN  CAMP "          10 

FIELD-MARSHAL   GEBHARD  LEBRECHT  VON  BLUCHER      .      .        "  14 

EMPEROR  NAPOLEON "  22 

GENERAL  GNEISENAU "  26 

TWO  PHILOSOPHERS  MEET   AT  JENA "  30 

MAP — JENA  AND   ITS  SURROUNDINGS 37 

FRENCH  TROOPS  ENTER   A  GERMAN  VILLAGE Facing  p.   40 

MAP    SHOWING     THE    RELATION    OF    JENA    TO    PARIS    AND 

BERLIN,  AND  THE   POLITICAL   DIVISION   OF   1806 44 

FLIGHT  OF  THE  PRUSSIAN   ARMY  AFTER  JENA Facing  p.  46 

METTERNICH,  PRIME   MINISTER  OP  AUSTRIA  ......         "         50 

NAPOLEON    AT    THE    DESK    OF    FREDERICK    THE    GREAT    AT 

SANS  8OUCI "         62 

FLIGHT  OP  QUEEN  LUISE "         76 

MAP  SHOWING  THE  ROUTE  OF  QUEEN  LUISE's  FLIGHT  AND 
THE  TERRITORY  OVERRUN  BY  NAPOLEON  IN  THE  WIN- 
TER OF  1806 78,  79 

EAST  SIDE  OF  THE  CASTLE  OF   KOMGSBEKG Facing  p.  84 

FREDERICK  WILLIAM  III.  WAITING  FOR  THE  END  OF  THK 

CONFERENCE  ON  THE  RAFT 90 

NAPOLEON'S  HEADQUARTERS  AT  TILSIT     .  94 


viii  ILLUSTRATIONS    IN   VOL   I 

HOUSE    AT    TILSIT    IN    WHICH    QUEEN    LUISE    RECEIVED 

NAPOLEON Facing  p. .    98 

MAP — PRUSSIA    BEFORE    AND     AFTER    THE     TREATY    OF 

TILSIT "  99 

LUI8E   AND   NAPOLEON   AT  TILSIT "  100 

THE   DEMAND  FOR   THE   SURRENDER   OF   COLBERG  ...  "  106 

NETTELBECK   THREATENS  THE   GOVERNOR "  108 

NETTELBECK  AND   GNEISENAU   ON   THE   RAMPARTS        .      .  "  110 

8CHILL "  112 

GNEISENAU'S  MONEY 113 

NETTELBECK Facing  p.    116 

GNEISENAU.      (From  the  original  plaster  cast  by  Ranch)    ....  "  124 

ALEXANDER  I.  OF  RUSSIA "  130 

FREDERICK  WILLIAM  III "  138 

GENERAL  SCHARNHOST "  154 

FREDERICK  LUDWIG  JAHN "  164 

ONE  OF  SCHILL'S  FOLLOWERS "  172 

DEATH  OF  SCHILL  IN  THE  MARKET-PLACE  AT  STRALSUND  "  180 

HOFER  CONFERRING  WITH  THE  AUSTRIAN  STADTHOLDER  "  188 

ANDREAS  HOFER  A  PRISONER "  192 

HARDENBERG "  204 

THE  MARQUIS  DE  TALLEYRAND "  214 

THE  GREAT  BARON  STEIN "  222 

THE  PATRIOT  FICHTE "  232 

THE  IRON  CROSS ,  .  244 


PREFACE 


THESE  pages  go  to  the  printer  at  a  moment  when 
Germany  is  celebrating  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of 
the  great  war  which  culminated  in  a  German  empire, 
manhood  suffrage,  and  a  free  Parliament.  These  were 
the  ideals  of  the  patriots  who  roused  the  German  nation 
against  the  tyranny  of  Napoleon,  and  for  these  their  de- 
scendants cheerfully  became  rebels  in  the  stormy  days 
of  1848.  It  has  been  my  purpose  to  tell  in  simple  lan- 
guage the  story  of  this  struggle — a  story  addressed  to 
people  of  English  speech  and  tradition,  who  believe  that 
the  strength  of  government  is  in  the  vigor  and  virtue  of 
the  individual  citizen.  In  Europe  to-day  some  rulers 
act  as  though  soldiers  alone  knew  how  to  be  patriotic — 
as  though  great  armies  made  great  nations.  Yet  in 
Germany  we  have  seen  a  constant  increase  of  the  so- 
cialistic vote  keeping  pace  with  the  growth  and  perfec- 
tion of  a  monster  military  organism.  When  Bismarck 
in  1871  became  Chancellor  of  the  new  German  Empire, 
the  socialist  vote  was  so  small  that  it  could  be  ignored. 
When  he  left  office,  after  twenty  years  of  rule,  he  left 
to  his  people  a  legacy  of  popular  disaffection  that  may 


be  estimated  only  by  reference  to  one  and  a  quarter 
million  votes  cast  for  socialist  candidates. 

The  parallel  progress  of  militarism  and  socialism  in 
the  new  German  Empire  offers  problems  for  the  modern 
philosopher  and  law-maker.  There  are  many  causes  at 
the  bottom  of  it.  But  the  cause  most  clear  is  that  Ger- 
many to-day  does  not  move  in  the  spirit  of  her  great 
men,  who  raised  her  up  when  all  the  world  thought  her 
destroyed.  The  German  volunteers  of  1813  were  offi- 
cered by  patriot  citizens  who  pretended  to  no  more 
social  rank  and  privilege  than  was  absolutely  necessary 
for  the  enforcement  of  military  discipline.  They  en- 
tered the  army  for  the  sake  of  defending  their  country, 
and  returned  to  their  citizen  work  when  the-  war  was 
done.  To-day  the  German  officer  is  wholly  a  profes- 
sional soldier,  and  of  the  non-commissioned  officer  this 
is  almost  equally  true.  The  soldier  and  the  citizen  have 
ceased  to  feel  that  their  titles  are  interchangeable.  A 
spirit  of  caste  has  come  to  permeate  the  great  soldier 
class — the  same  spirit  that  led  the  Prussian  army  to  its 
disgraces  after  Jena. 

In  these  pages  we  may  see  that  great  military  results 
have  been  achieved  by  patriotic  citizens  who  volun- 
teered for  active  service  when  their  country  was  in  dan- 
ger. Their  example  should  teach  us  the  importance  of 
insisting  that  each  able-bodied  citizen  must  know  the 
duties  of  a  soldier.  It  is  surely  not  too  much  to  ask 
that  each  member  of  a  free  country  should  surrender  at 
least  one  month  in  every  year  to  exercises  which  will 
qualify  him  to  defend  that  country  in  the  event  of  in- 


PREFACE  xi 

vasion.  Our  historical  traditions  make  us  dislike  large 
standing  armies,  and  for  that  reason  ought  we  the  more 
readily  to  adopt  measures  that  shall  in  the  moment  of 
danger  make  us  a  nation  in  arms.  No  country  can 
maintain  its  liberty  unless  it  is  ready  to  fight  for  it; 
nor  can  that  fight  end  well  unless  the  fighting  is  done 
by  the  whole  body  of  the  people.  The  nation  that  has 
to  employ  mercenaries  may  purchase  temporary  secu- 
rity; but  the  price  becomes  higher  as  the  years  go  by, 
and  in  time  that  people  will  surely  sell  its  liberty  as  the 
price  of  mere  existence. 


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

First  of  all,  I  have  to  thank  His  Majesty  the  German 
Emperor  for  permission  to  use  the  precious  manuscript 
material  stored  in  the  Prussian  archives.  This  mate- 
rial is  excellently  arranged.  I  received  much  assist- 
ance from  Colonel  Leszczynszki  at  the  War  Archives 
(Generalstabsarchiv),  and  from  Dr.  Bailleu  at  the  Ge- 
heime  Staatsarchiv  (State  Secret  Archives).  There  is 
much  valuable  material  in  the  House  Archives  of  the 
Hohenzollern  family,  which,  for  political  reasons,  is  not 
yet  available  to  the  historian. 

His  Royal  Highness  the  Duke  of  Cumberland  and 
Her  Majesty  the  Queen  of  Hanover  have  placed  me 
under  deep  obligations  in  the  making  of  these  pages. 
So  has  the  present  Count  Voss,  a  direct  descendant  of 
the  lady  who  was  principal  companion  to  Queen  Luise. 


Xii  PREFACE 

Dr.  Peschel,  the  director  of  the  Korner  Museum  in 
Dresden,  gave  me  several  days  of  his  precious  time 
amidst  his  treasures.  Professor  Siemering,  the  director 
of  the  Kauch  Museum  in  Berlin,  was  equally  kind  in 
assisting  me  to  get  the  best  possible  portraits  from 
Kauch's  originals.  Professor  Schiemann,  of  the  Berlin 
University,  has  given  me  generous  advice  and  aid.  The 
late  Countess  Chorinsky,  who  had  in  her  possession  a 
large  correspondence  with  Queen  Luise,  also  aided  my 
work.  Pastor  Deckert,  of  Schilda,  did  everything  in 
his  power  to  clear  up  for  me  the  mystery  of  Gneisenau's 
birth.  Finally,  let  me  heartily  acknowledge  my  obli- 
gation to  Mr.  Hubert  Hall,  of  the  London  Record  Office, 
who  took  as  much  interest  in  my  work  as  though  he 
were  writing  it  himself. 

So  many  kind  acts  are  there  for  me  to  recall  at  this 
moment  that  to  note  them  individually  would  be  im- 
possible. I  have  had  occasion  to  ask  very  many  favors 
from  Germans  in  every  corner  of  the  empire,  and  have 
invariably  received  generous  treatment ;  the  one  or  two 
exceptions  are  not  worth  noting.  The  lines  of  the  Mol- 
dau,  the  Elbe,  and  the  Danube,  the  Spree  and  the  Havel, 
I  have  slowly  paddled  in  my  canoe,  stopping  at  every 
point  from  which  interesting  excursions  might  be  made — 
as,  for  instance,  from  Torgau  to  Schilda  and  Leipzig; 
from  Dresden  to  Bautzen.  Nearly  every  battle-field  I 
have  tramped  over  on  foot,  verifying  previous  authori- 
ties and  noting  the  changes  made  by  modern  progress. 
These  excursions,  made  during  the  last  eight  vears, 
have  brought  me  into  contact  with  many  different  kinds 


PREFACE  xiii 

of  Germans  in  a  manner  most  agreeable  to  me.  I  wish 
I  could  thank  again,  personally,  each  of  the  many  who 
have  helped  me  while  tramping  and  paddling  up  and 
down  the  fatherland. 


The  books  to  which  I  owe  a  debt  of  gratitude  are 
many  indeed,  nearly  all  in  the  German  language,  and 
almost  without  exception  devoid  of  index.  The  student 
interested  in  learning  more  of  this  period  can  be  most 
readily  guided  by  taking  in  turn  each  of  the  great 
names  of  that  time  and  reading  either  his  memoirs,  his 
life,  or  possibly  a  collection  of  his  letters.  Thus  Pertz 
has  left  us  a  monumental  life  of  Stein ;  Ranke  an  equally 
serious  life  of  Hardenberg;  Boy  en's  autobiography  is 
already  a  classic ;  and  when  the  head  of  the  Hohenzol- 
lerns  decides  to  open  his  most  secret  archives  we  shall 
have  at  least  material  for  a  complete  life  of  Queen 
Luise. 

It  is  deeply  to  be  regretted  that  so  much  of  the  polit- 
ical and  social  correspondence  of  notable  Germans  has 
been  destroyed  for  fear  of  the  police.  Arndt  congratu- 
lated himself  that  all  his  precious  manuscript  had  been 
lost  at  sea.  The  years  following  the  battle  of  Water- 
loo brought  with  them  much  political  persecution,  and 
nearly  every  German  who  had  been  conspicuous  as  a 
patriot  in  liberating  the  country  from  Napoleon  became 
afterwards  a  traitor — at  least  in  the  eyes  of  the  govern- 
ment. 

This  fact  alone  renders  the  task  of  writing  a  history 
of  this  period  difficult. 


xiv  PREFACE 

In  regard  to  illustrations,  I  have  to  thank  Mr.  Caton 
Woodville  for  the  interest  he  has  shown  in  making  his 
pictures  conform  to  historic  truth.  I  have  had  to  reject 
a  great  many  well-known  pictures  by  other  names  sim- 
ply because  they  were  calculated  to  give  the  reader  a 
wrong  impression.  The  directors  of  German  museums 
have  been  uniformly  helpful  to  me. 

In  conclusion,  I  must  thank  the  editor  of  Harper's 
Magazine  for  first  encouraging  me  towards  this  publi- 
cation, when  other  editors  and  publishers  had  given  me 
only  discouragement.  Should  this  story  prove  interest- 
ing in  book  form,  I  shall  hope  to  continue  it  at  some 
future  date. 

POCLTNEY    BlGELOW. 

HIGHLAND  FALLS,  N.  Y.,  March  30,  1896. 


AUTHOR'S   NOTE 

WHILE  this  work  was  passing  through  the 
press  the  author  was  in  South  Africa,  and 
he  is  under  obligations  to  his  friend,  Charl- 
ton  T.  Lewis,  Esq.,  for  his  care  and  attention 
in  looking  over  the  proofs. 


REFERENCE    TABLE    OF    CONTEMPORARIES 
I 

RULERS 

BORN  DIED 

Frederick  William  III 1770  1840 

Queen  Luise 1776  1810 

Napoleon  1 1769  1821 

George  III 1788  1820 

Czar  Alexander 1777  1825 

President  Madison 1751  1836 

STATESMEN 

Stein 1757  1831 

Hardenberg 1750  1822 

Talleyrand 1754  1838 

Metternich 1773  1859 

SOLDIERS 

Blilcher 1742  1819 

Gneisenau 1760  1831 

Boyen 1771  1848 

Scharnhorst 1755  1813 

Schill 1776  1809 

Liitzow 1782  1834 

Yorck 1759  1830 

ARTISTS,  POETS,  PHILOSOPHERS,  WRITERS,  PATRIOTS 

Schiller 1759  1805 

Goethe 1749  1832 

Korner 1791  1813 

Arndt 1769  1860 

Fichte 1762  1814 

Kant 1724  1804 

Jahn 1778  1852 

Iffliiiul 1759  1814 

Peslalozzi 1746  1827 

Rauch  .  .   1777  1857 


REFERENCE   TABLE 


A  FEW   DATES  WORTH   REFERRING  TO 

Holy  Roman  Empire  of  Germany  dissolved  by  Napo- 
leon  August  6,  1806 

Execution  of  John  Palm August  25,  1806 

Battle  of  Jena  and  Auerstadt October  14,  1806 

Treaty  of  Tilsit 1807 

Period  of  Stein's  important  ministry 1807-8 

Schill's  death 1809 

Execution  of  Andreas  Hofer 1810 

Death  of  Queen  Luise 1810 

Hardenberg  calls  together  a  Parliament 1811 

King  Frederick  William  III.  entertains  the  idea  of  the 

Iron  Cross 1811 

Napoleon  enters  Moscow 1812 

Napoleon  forsakes  his  army  in  Russia  and  hurries  to 

Paris December,  1812 

Yorck  declares  against  Napoleon Christmas,  1812 

Rebellious  Congress  of  KOnigsberg 1813 

Call  for  volunteers 1813 

War  declared  against  Napoleon March  17,  1813 

The  Liltzow  Free  Corps  organized 1813 

First  batile  of  the  war  of  liberation May  2,  1813 

Battle  of  Leipzig October  16-19,  1813 

Bliicher  crosses  the  Rhine January  1,  1814 

Prussians  enter  Paris March,  1814 

Peace  signed 1814 


HISTORY    OF    THE 
GERMAN    STRUGGLE   FOR  LIBERTY 

IX   THREE   VOLUMES 
VOL.  I 


HISTORY  OF  THE 

GERMAN  STRUGGLE  FOR  LIBERTY 


EXECUTION  OF  JOHN  PALM,  BOOKSELLER 

"  Aber  nichtsdestoweniger  steht  die  Wahrheit  fest :  Dass  die  geistige 
Entwickelung  des  Volkes  \ind  seine  ihm  gesetzlich  gegebene 
Theilnahme  an  den  Offentlichen  Angelegenheiten  in  unserer  ge- 
genwartigen  Zeit,  die  Hauptsttltzen  des  Staates  sind."* — Memoirs 
of  (General  Boyen,  a  Prussian  Minister  of  War,  vol.  i.,  p.  307. 

IN  the  summer  of  1806,  the  memorable  year  of  Jena, 
there  lived  in  the  picturesque  old  town  of  Nuremberg  a 
much-respected  bookseller  named  John  Palm.  Under 
ordinary  circumstances  he  would  have  lived  and  died 
like  many  another  respectable  German  bookseller  had 
not  Napoleon,  by  a  stroke  of  his  pen,  sent  his  name  echo- 
ing around  the  world  with  the  significance  attaching  to 
those  of  patriots  like  John  Hampden  and  Nathan  Hale. 
John  Palm  received,  one  day,  in  the  usual  course  of 
his  business,  a  package  of  books  consigned  through 
him  to  other  booksellers  of  his  neighborhood;  these 

*  Translation:  "  But,  in  spite  of  it  all,  this  trutb  remains  firm,  that 
the  principal  supports  of  the  state  nowadays  are :  the  growing  intel- 
ligence of  the  people,  and  the  share  in  public  affairs  accorded  them 
by  law." 
L-l 


2  THE    GERMAN    STRUGGLE    FOR   LIBERTY 

books  were  done  up  in  separate  packages,  addressed  to 
the  respective  consignees,  and  John  Palm  had  no  other 
connection  with  them  than  arranging  for  their  safe  de- 
livery. He  did  not  know  the  contents  of  any  of  these 
books. 

Amongst  them,  however,  happened  to  be  one  entitled 
"  Germany  in  her  Day  of  Shame  "  (Deutschland  in  seiner 
tiefsten  Erniedrigung) ;  it  was  a  short  anonymous  work 
commenting  severely  upon  the  manner  in  which  the 
French  military  administration  pressed  upon  the  people 
of  Bavaria,  and  it  evidently  echoed  the  feeling  of  Ger- 
man patriots,  who  resented  the  arbitrary  manner  in 
which  Napoleon  quartered  his  troops  upon  them. 

One  copy  of  this  pamphlet  was  consigned  to  a  book- 
seller in  Augsburg,  wyho  allowed  his  children  to  read  it ; 
through  them,  however,  it  fell  into  the  hands  of  some 
French  officers  who  were  quartered  upon  the  pastor  of 
a  neighboring  village,  and  thus  became  known  to  the 
higher  French  authorities.  On  the  Tth  of  July,  1806, 
Napoleon  ordered  John  Palm  to  be  tried  by  court-mar- 
tial and  shot. 

This  respectable  bookseller  was  so  convinced  of  his 
own  innocence,  and  had  such  complete  proof  that  he 
was  not  the  author  nor  the  publisher  of  the  book,  and 
did  not  even  know  what  the  book  was  about,  that  he 
refused  the  abundant  opportunities  he  had  of  avoiding 
arrest  by  escaping  into  Austria  or  Prussia. 

On  the  22d  of  August  he  was  locked  up  in  the  fortress 
of  Braunau,  an  Austrian  town  garrisoned  by  French 
troops,  about  two  hundred  miles  from  Nuremberg.  lie 
had  taken  leave  of  his  wife  and  children,  promising  a 
speedy  return,  and  felt  confident  that  his  trial  would  be 
merely  a  matter  of  form ;  and  so  it  was. 

He  was  given  two  short  hearings.    No  one  was  al- 


EXECUTION    OF   JOHN   PALM,   BOOKSELLER 

lowed  to  plead  for  him,  and  within  two  days  of  entering 
the  fortress  he  was  sentenced  to  be  shot. 

At  eleven  o'clock  on  the  26th  of  August  his  prison 
door  was  opened.  He  assumed  that  he  was  to  be  set  at 
liberty  and  start  immediately  to  join  his  wife  and  chil- 
dren in  Nuremberg.  Instead  of  this,  however,  he  was 
notified  that  he  was  to  be  shot  at  two  o'clock,  leaving 
him  barely  time  to  write  a  few  letters  to  his  family  and 
most  intimate  friends. 

The  three  short  hours  between  the  announcement  of 
his  sentence  and  the  execution  were  of  no  use  to  him, 
nor  would  they  have  been  had  the  electric  telegraph 
been  at  his  disposal.  The  judgment  of  the  court-mar- 
tial was  a  surprise  to  his  friends  as  well  as  to  him- 
self— in  fact,  to  every  one  excepting  the  French  military 
authorities,  who  were  acting  under  instructions  from 
Paris.  The  good  people  of  the  town  begged  mercy  for 
him  at  the  knees  of  the  French  commandant,  ignorant 
of  the  fact  that  this  officer  was  acting  not  as  judge, 
but  as  executioner. 

At  the  appointed  hour  John  Palm  was  placed  upon  a 
peasant's  cart  and  escorted  beyond  the  walls  of  the 
town  under  a  strong  military  escort.  The  whole  garri- 
son of  the  place  was  assembled  to  look  on  at  the  killing 
of  this  plain  every-day  little  bookseller  of  Nuremberg. 
No  people  in  Germany  are  more  kindly  and  peace-loving 
than  those  of  this  particular  neighborhood;  but  even 
these  good  people  gave  the  French  officers  reason  to  fear 
that  an  attempt  might  be  made  to  rescue  him,  and  that 
therefore  it  was  prudent  to  make  as  great  a  display  of 
force  as  possible. 

John  Palm's  wrists  were  tied  behind  his  back,  and  six 
French  soldiers  stepped  forward,  aimed,  and  fired.  Five 
of  the  shots  missed  him ;  the  sixth  brought  him  to  the 


4  THE   GERMAN   STRUGGLE   FOE   LIBERTY 

ground  with  a  cry  of  pain.  He  struggled  to  his  feet  to 
receive  another  volley,  which  again  brought  him  to  the 
ground,  crippled  and  helpless,  but  not  yet  dead.  Two 
soldiers  now  ran  quickly  forward,  placed  the  muzzles  of 
their  muskets  against  his  head,  and  finished  the  task  with 
disgusting  thoroughness. 

It  is  significant  that  John  Palm,  although  a  Protestant, 
was  cared  for  by  the  Roman  Catholic  community  of 
Braunau,  was  buried  in  their  church-yard,  and  in  1866 
was  honored  there  by  a  national  monument  to  his  mem- 
ory.* 

The  body  of  John  Palm  died  in  the  summer  of  1806, 
but,  like  John  Brown  of  Ossawatomie,  "his  soul  goes 
marching  on." 

The  killing  of  John  Palm  of  Nuremberg  may  be  char- 
acterized as  was  the  killing  of  the  Duke  of  Enghien  two 
years  before — it  was  more  than  a  crime,  it  was  a  blunder. 
The  shots  which  brought  sharp  sorrow  to  the  widow  and 
children  of  this  Bavarian  bookseller  brought  mortifica- 
tion and  anger  into  the  heart  of  every  German,  to  what- 
ever petty  state  he  might  belong.  No  one  could  be  blind 
to  the  fact  that  Napoleon  by  this  act  asserted  his  right, 
or  at  least  his  power,  to  reach  out  beyond  his  frontiers 
into  a  neighboring  German  state  in  a  time  of  profound 
peace,  seize  a  respectable  German  citizen,  try  him  by 
court-martial  far  from  his  home,  execute  him  against  the 
clearest  evidence  of  innocence,  and  after  it  was  done  be 


*  On  the  occasion  of  my  pilgrimage  down  the  beautiful  valley  of 
the  Inn  —  which,  of  course,  must  be  made  in  a  canoe  —  I  found 
plenty  to  repay  the  traveller  who  is  interested  in  this  period  of  history. 
And  no  point  awakens  more  grateful  memories  than  Braunau,  where 
the  Protestant  Palm  was  tenderly  cared  for  by  his  Roman  Catholic 
fellow-Germans  in  the  spirit  of  charity  and  common  indignation  at  his 
murder.— P.  B. 


THE   EXECUTION    OK   JOHN    1'Ah.M 


EXECUTION   OF   JOHN   PALM,  BOOKSELLER  5 

called  to  account  by  nobody,  not  even  the  state  whose 
territory  he  had  outraged. 

The  story  of  John  Palm's  execution  went  from  mouth 
to  mouth  all  over  Germany,  kindling  into  patriotic  fire 
the  smouldering  embers  of  German  nationality.  Even 
the  court  of  Prussia  was  made  to  feel  that  there  was  in 
Germany  such  a  thing  as  public  sentiment.  There  were 
very  many  patriotic  Germans  who  had  looked  on  with 
deep  distrust  as  Napoleon  encroached  more  and  more 
beyond  the  boundaries  of  France  and  dictated  terms 
more  and  more  humiliating  to  German  states ;  but  such 
affairs  were,  after  all,  the  business  of  a  small  number  of 
people,  and  but  vaguely  understood  outside  of  diplomatic 
circles.  Napoleon  had  upset  many  kings  and  raised  up 
many  more ;  he  had  overthrown  constitutions  and  put 
up  new  ones  in  their  place ;  but  not  even  his  statecraft 
could  make  good  in  the  popular  mind  the  killing  of  the 
plain  little  German  bookseller  John  Palm. 


II 

QUEEN  LUISE  OF  PRUSSIA  BEFORE  JENA 

"  By  the  Treaty  of  Basel  (1795)  Frederic  William  III.,  in  common  with 
most  German  princes,  surrendered  a  cause  that  was  more  German 
and  of  greater  importance  to  the  body  of  the  people  than  any  that 
has  ever  been  fought  out  along  the  Rhine.  By  a  disgraceful 
peace  he  surrendered  to  Frenchmen  the  honor  and  independence 
of  Germany.  .  .  .  The  Prussians  retired,  hated  by  many  ;  shorn  of 
their  illustrious,  honorable  fame— rendered  more  odious  still  by 
the  recent  smashing  and  carving  up  of  Poland." — The  Poet  Arndt, 
p.  214,  anno  1805. 

THE  travelling-carriage  stood  ready  in  the  courtyard 
of  the  Palace  of  Potsdam  one  fine  morning  in  June, 
1806.  It  was  the  year  of  Jena,  but  no  one  knew  that. 
Queen  Luise  came  down  the  steps  with  her  husband 
and  children,  bade  them  an  affectionate  farewell,  and 
drove  away  in  search  of  health — to  a  little  watering- 
place  called  Pyrmont,  situated  between  Hanover  town 
and  that  Teutoburger  Forest  where  Hermann  (Armin- 
ius)  routed  the  legions  of  Rome,  and  for  all  time  as- 
serted the  power  of  Germany  as  a  distinct  nation. 
Queen  Luise  had  buried  a  little  baby  boy  in  April  of 
this  year.  It  was  her  eighth  child,  and  she  loved  it 
dearly.  The  loss  afflicted  her  so  much  that  her  health 
suffered,  and  her  doctors  ordered  her  away  in  the  hope 
that  she  might  forget  her  sorrow  in  the  pleasures  of  a 
watering-place. 

Luise,  in  this  year  of  sadness,  was  not  merely  the 


QUEEN   LUISE   OF  PRUSSIA  BEFORE   JENA  7 

most  beautiful  woman  on  a  throne,  but  a  woman  of 
beauty  absolutely.  "We  have  the  most  abundant  evi- 
dence on  this  point  from  contemporaries — not  even  ex- 
cepting Napoleon.  But  more  than  beauty  had  she. 
Her  character  was  pure.  She  had  been  reared  amidst 
home  influence  calculated  to  develop  the  best  qualities  of 
a  naturally  frank,  spirited,  affectionate  woman.  There 
may  have  been  prettier  queens,  and  there  have  been 
queens  more  clever,  but  it  would,  I  think,  be  difficult  to 
name  one  combining  so  much  of  beauty  and  so  much  of 
sound  political  instinct  as  Luise. 

Of  the  hundreds  of  pictures  that  have  passed  through 
my  hands,  all  pretending  to  be  portraits,  only  one  does 
her  justice,  and  that  one  is  a  miniature,  without  name 
or  date,  in  the  study  of  the  Queen  of  Hanover,  at  Gmun- 
den,  on  the  Traun  Lake.  The  best  portrait  in  every 
way  is  the  one  by  the  great  sculptor  Rauch,  who  was 
for  six  years  in  service  about  the  person  of  the  Queen, 
and  therefore  knew  her  even7  expression.  Rauch  com- 
peted with  Canova  and  Thorwaldsen  for  the  honor  of 
making  the  famous  sarcophagus  at  Charlottenburg,  rep- 
resenting Luise  extended  as  if  in  sleep,  with  hands  fold- 
ed across  her  bosom.  He  was  awarded  the  prize,  and 
produced  a  monument  unique  in  its  way. 

The  portrait  reproduced  here  is  from  the  bust  made  by 
Rauch  in  1816.  In  photographing  this  I  was  assisted  by 
Professor  Siemering,  the  sculptor,  who  has  charge  of  the 
Rauch  Museum  in  Berlin.  This  portrait  is  to  me  better 
than  the  one  on  the  sarcophagus,  because  not  idealized. 
This  is  the  living  and  speaking  Queen  Luise  as  Rauch 
knew  her,  and  as  Napoleon  I.  saw  her  at  Tilsit,  with  the 
classic  diadem  upon  her  head.*  In  this  portrait  we  see 

*  Rauch  entered  the  service  of  Queen  Luise  when  he  was  twenty- 
three  years  old  (born  1777),  and  remained  with  her  six  years.  He  left 


8  THE    GERMAN   STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

the  harmony  of  her  features ;  the  sensitive  quality  of 
her  mouth,  which  is  noticeable  in  the  present  Emperor 
William,  her  great-grandson.  Her  forehead  is  broad; 
her  eyes  are  thoughtful.  It  is  the  face  of  a  woman 
who  should  have  known  only  kindness  from  others,  for 
she  lived  only  to  make  others  happy. 

She  was  born  in  the  year  of  American  Independence, 
1776,  and  in  1806  was  therefore  barely  thirty  years  old. 
Germans  loved  her  with  an  intensity  which  can  be  ac- 
counted for  by  reference  not  merely  to  her  personal 
gentleness  and  good  sense,  but  to  the  peculiar  position 
she  occupied.  She  was  the  first  Queen  of  Prussia  in  the 
memory  of  living  man  whose  relations  with  her  hus- 
band, her  court,  or  her  people  were  those  which  could 
please  the  average  respectable  mother.  Luise  at  once 
became  not  merely  the  first  lady  of  Prussia,  but  she 
made  the  Prussian  court  a  pattern  of  domestic  life  to 
Germans  of  every  degree.  Germans  have  much  senti- 
ment, and  above  all  do  they  cling  to  the  traditions  of 
purity  in  family  life.  Frederick  the  Great  had  not 
done  much  in  this  direction ;  his  successor,  Frederick 
William  II.,  had  done  even  less — he  had  permitted  the 
court  of  Berlin  and  Potsdam  to  set  an  example  pain- 
fully demoralizing  to  German  princes  in  general,  and, 
above  all,  scandalous  to  the  plain,  honest  people. 

her  only  to  pursue  his  art  in  Italy.  His  first  great  work  was  a  study 
of  his  Queen. 

The  bust  here  pictured  was  made  in  1816,  six  years  after  the 
Queen's  death.  It  was  done  from  the  death-mask,  and  proves  con- 
clusively that  Luise  had  in  her  face  not  merely  beauty,  but  also  other 
qualities  that  attract  us  to  woman.  I  have  compared  about  one  hun- 
dred different  reproductions  of  this  Queen,  and  find  none  so  faithful  to 
the  death-mask  and  at  the  same  time  so  satisfactory  in  every  other  re- 
spect as  this  one.  There  is  a  bronze  of  this  in  Charlottenburg.  The 
marble  was  sent,  1816,  to  "  Lord  Gower,  in  London." 


PORTRAIT   OF   QUKKN    LUISK 

[from  Hie  original  bust  by  R;iucli  in  the  Berlin  Museum. 


QUEEN    LTJISE   OF   PRUSSIA   BEFORE   JENA  9 

It  had  also  been  the  fashion  under  the  two  previous 
Kings  of  Prussia  to  regard  the  German  language  and 
German  life  in  general  as  something  good  enough  for 
the  common  people,  but  not  at  all  the  thing  for  people 
of  rank.  At  court  every  one  spoke  French  and  wrote 
letters  in  French,  even  where  both  parties  were  German. 
Now,  so  far  as  this  was  a  fad  in  one  class  of  society  it  did 
little  harm,  but  since  the  French  Revolution  (1789)  the 
armies  of  France  had  been  cutting  their  way  about  Eu- 
rope so  energetically  that  Prussia,  amongst  others,  was 
called  upon  to  decide  whether  she  should  become  a 
province  of  Napoleon's  empire  or  fight  him  to  the 
death. 

Writing  at  the  close  of  the  nineteenth  century,  it  is 
very  strange  to  look  back  upon  a  period  of  Prussian  his- 
tory when  for  a  series  of  years  an  influential  section  of 
the  King's  cabinet  and  court  openly  insisted  that  there 
was  nothing  degrading  in  becoming  a  dependent  ally  of 
the  great  Napoleon.*  Germans  had  tasted  the  dangerous 
sweets  of  a  long  peace.  They  had  become  accustomed 
to  luxury ;  to  a  dream  of  universal  empire  with  a  wise 
Augustus  at  the  head.  Napoleon  seemed  to  have  been 
sent  by  Heaven  for  the  purpose  of  inaugurating  a  great 
European  millennium,  and  why  should  people  of  culture 
oppose  an  end  so  manifestly  in  the  interests  of  art,  litera- 
ture, science,  and  human  happiness  ? 

But  Luise  was  German  through  and  through.  She  knew 
her  Germany  by  heart.  She  had  travelled  in  every  part 
of  it,  and  knew  the  feelings  of  the  people  better  than  the 
members  of  the  King's  cabinet.  She  did  not  trust  Na- 
poleon. She  knew  that  between  the  German  and  the 
French  was  a  gulf  of  differences  not  to  be  bridged  by 

*  Frederick  William  III.,  in  1806,  "declined  the  Imperial  Crown  .  .  . 
out  of  delicacy  for  the  feelings  of  Austria." — Menzel,  p.  725. 


10 

fair  promises,  and  she  had  faith  in  the  German  character 
as  capable  of  developing  a  nation. 

Is  it  wonder  that  Luise  was  beloved  and  treated  al- 
most as  a  national  saint  ?  To  the  rugged  peasantry  of 
Protestant  Germany  she  embodied  their  national  aspira- 
tions ;  she  might  have  led  them  to  war ;  she  was  their 
Brandenburg  Madonna — a  greater  than  Joan  of  Arc. 

At  Pyrmont,  Luise  was  the  head  of  a  political  con~ 
gress  made  up  of  little  princely  families  who  had  come 
to  this  watering-place  nominally  for  their  health,  but 
really  to  compare  notes  on  the  political  situation  and 
to  distribute  news  and  gossip.  Here,  too,  came  Bliicher, 
breathing  fury  against  the  French.  Luise  loved  this 
old  soldier,  and  many  were  the  talks  they  had  together, 
making  plans  for  the  future  of  her  country. 

At  six  every  day  Luise  took  her  morning  walk,  glass 
in  hand,  listening  to  the  hymn  that  was  always  played 
at  this  hour  under  the  trees.  She  passed  the  shop  of 
an  invalid  widower  left  with  two  feeble  daughters,  and 
asked  after  his  health.  It  was  not  good.  Luise  recom- 
mended the  drinking  of  asses'  milk  for  them. 

The  poor  man  answered  that  such  milk  was  too  ex- 
pensive for  him.  "  Well,  then,  I  am  delighted,"  said  the 
Queen,  "to  be  able  to  help  you  in  the  matter.  I  drink 
asses'  milk  every  morning  with  my  steel,  and  there  is  a 
great  deal  left  over.  I  shall  see  that  the  rest  of  the  asses' 
milk  comes  to  you  each  morning." 

And  the  Queen  kept  her  word.  The  milk  itself  may 
not  have  been  of  much  value,  but  the  manner  in  which 
the  gift  was  made  should  have  brought  roses  into  the 
palest  cheeks. 

Prussia  in  these  weeks  appeared  to  be  the  strongest 
power  of  the  Continent  next  to  France.  Her  army 
was  said  to  be  250,000  men,  excellently  drilled  and  well 


RECEIVING   NEWS   OF   THE    DECLARATION   OF   \VAU   IN    THE 
PRUSSIAN    CAMP 


QUEEN   LUISE    OF   PRUSSIA   BEFORE   JENA  11 

equipped.  Her  territories  had  been  much  enlarged  by 
the  seizure  of  Hanover,  which  Frederick  William  III.  had 
accepted  from  Napoleon  as  a  reward  for  subserviency. 
Austria  had  been  defeated  at  Austerlitz  in  1805 ;  Napo- 
leon had  hinted  to  the  Prussian  monarch  that  a  North 
German  Empire  would  be  viewed  with  favor  in  Paris. 
In  short,  to  a  superficial  observer  it  might  have  seemed 
that  no  sovereign  had  more  reason  to  be  satisfied  with  his 
prospects  than  the  King  of  Prussia  in  the  summer  of  1806. 

Luise  left  Pyrmont  with  hope  and  happiness  somewhat 
revived.  She  had  talked  with  representatives  of  nearly 
all  the  ruling  families  of  North  Germany,  as  well  as 
with  many  Germans  of  note  in  other  ways,  and  carried 
back  to  Charlottenburg  a  budget  of  impressions  that 
were  intended  to  make  her  husband  very  happy  on  his 
birthday,  the  3d  of  August. 

But  that  birthday  brought  other  news,  to  be  followed 
by  worse  news  still.  Napoleon  had  created  a  vast  con- 
federation of  South  German  states,  all  dependent  upon 
France.  Francis  II.,  head  of  the  German  Empire,  had 
formally  abdicated  that  title,  and  was  to  be  henceforth 
merely  Emperor  of  Austria.  Then  came  rumors  of 
French  intrigue  in  the  little  courts  of  northern  Germany, 
the  object  of  which  was  to  make  them  allies  of  Napoleon 
and  to  isolate  Prussia.  But  the  worst  blow  came  in  the 
news  from  Paris  that  Hanover  was,  after  all,  to  be 
handed  back  to  England;  that  Napoleon,  in  other  words, 
regarded  Prussia  as  no  more  than  a  very  feeble  state  to 
be  treated  like  the  rest  of  his  vassal  kingdoms. 

All  these  expressions  of  Napoleon's  contempt  for  his 
Prussian  Majesty,  coming  pretty  well  together,  con- 
vinced even  Frederick  William  III.  that  he  was  now  in 
a  corner  from  which  he  must  fight  his  way  out  or  be 
trampled  to  pieces. 


12  THE   GERMAN    STRUGGLE   FOR    LIBERTY 

The  most  natural  thing,  therefore,  was  to  look  around 
for  friends  to  help  him.  He  tried  the  little  neighboring 
states,  but  it  was  too  late.  They  had  all  conceived  dis- 
trust of  Prussia  and  immense  fear  of  Napoleon.*  They 
remembered  that  since  1792  Prussia  had  been  constantly 
pretending  to  protect  Germany  against  French  aggres- 
sion, but  somehow  or  other  had  always  found  her  profit 
in  letting  France  have  her  own  way.  The  year  of  Jena 
brought  upon  Prussia  the  natural  consequences  of  politi- 
cal blunders  and  crimes  perpetrated  upon  her  German 
neighbors. 

Of  course  Prussia  could  not  expect  help  from  Austria 
after  Austerlitz.  The  Russian  Czar  promised  to  come, 
but  he  was  far  away.  England  was  energetically  de- 
stroying Prussian  ships  wherever  she  could  surprise 
them.f  Frederick  William  III.  objected  to  having  ships 
of  war  because  Frederick  II.  had  not  found  them  neces- 
sary, and  at  this  time,  therefore,  England  had  rather  an 
easy  time  of  it  in  her  war  against  Prussian  commerce. 

And  this  was  the  condition  of  things  when  the  Prus- 
sian King  took  up  arms  against  Napoleon.  In  1805, 
when  backed  by  Russia,  England,  and  Austria,  he  shirked 
the  contest.  In  1806  he  gayly  marched  against  the  same 
common  enemy,  when  that  enemy  had  become  vastly 
stronger,  and  when  his  own  government  had  not  a  single 
friend  or  ally  worth  mentioning. 

*  "The  curse  of  king  murder  rested  upon  the  people  of  France ;  but 
upon  the  three  Eastern  monarchies  lay  the  guilt  of  having  murdered 
a  whole  people  (Poland)." — Droysen,  Lectures,  vol.  i.,  p.  338. 

f  ' '  More  than  1200  Prussian  merchantmen  became  then  the  booty 
of  British  or  Swedish  privateers.  .  .  .  Sweden  and  Norway,  in  spite  of 
their  poverty  and  weakness,  found  the  means  of  building  strong  navies, 
while  Prussia,  famed  for  her  war  strength,  possessed  not  a  single 
armed  ship  with  which  to  protect  her  subjects  against  these  pirates." — 
Menzel,  p.  693. 


Ill 

WHAT  SORT  OP  A  BR1NGING-UP   HAD    QUEEN  LUISE 

"  His  [Napoleon's]  proclamations  and  bulletins  constantly  mingled  in- 
sults with  threats.  He  did  not  even  spare  grief,  that  sacred  thing 
— not  even  in  the  person  of  the  Prussian  Queen." — Pasquier,  i.,  293. 

ROYAL  characters  are  most  interesting  when  doing 
something  which  is  not  marked  out  for  them  by  an 
official  programme.  In  this  respect  Queen  Luise  is  most 
refreshing. 

The  year  after  she  became  Queen  of  Prussia  she  was 
at  a  grand  ball  in  Magdeburg,  the  famous  fortress  on 
the  Elbe.  Amongst  the  many  noble  ladies  presented  to 
her  was  an  army  officer's  wife  who  was  herself  not  of 
the  so-called  aristocracy,  though  her  father  was  a  mer- 
chant of  eminent  respectability. 

Queen  Luise,  who  wished  to  set  the  young  woman  at 
her  ease,  asked  her  the  question  she  so  often  put  to 
strangers : 

"Let  me  hear  about  your  family — your  birth  !" 

"  Oh,  your  Majesty !"  stammered  the  embarrassed 
merchant's  daughter,  "  I  am — nobody,  of  no  particular 
birth  (gar  keine  geborene)" 

The  poor  frightened  woman  was  the  centre  of  a  circle 
made  up  of  the  most  pompous  dames  of  the  neighbor- 
hood, and  these  enjoyed  the  discomfiture  of  their  rival. 

Queen  Luise  noted  the  look  of  high-bred  scorn  on  the 
faces  of  the  ladies  about  her ;  she  heard  also  behind  her 


14 

n  lend  whisper  conveying  a  coarse  witticism  anent  the 
words  "  of  no  particular  birth." 

This  was  more  than  Luise  could  stand.  Her  pure, 
motherly  instinct  was  roused.  She  raised  her  beautiful 
head  of  wavy  hair,  over  which  shone  the  diadem  we 
know  so  well.  Without  betraying  the  feelings  that  boiled 
within  her,  she  allowed  her  eyes  to  rest  upon  one  and 
the  other  of  the  ladies  about  her;  and  with  a  pleasant 
smile  and  the  most  gentle  voice  imaginable  addressed 
these  words  to  the  merchant's  daughter : 

"  To  be  sure,  your  answer  contains  a  fine  flavor  of 
satire  and  truth.  I  must  confess  that  the  expression 
to  be  a  person  of  Itirih,  in  so  far  as  that  has  reference  to 
advantages  secured  by  tjje  act  of  being  born,  has  always 
sounded  to  me  particularly  senseless.  The  fact  is,  that  so 
far  as  birth  is  concerned,  all  of  us,  without  exception,  are 
equal.  It  is,  of  course,  pleasant  to  reflect  that  our  parents 
and  ancestors  have  been  people  of  virtue  and  respecta- 
bility, for  who  does  not  respect  this  sort  of  thing?  But 
such  good  qualities,  thank  God,  are  found  in  all  grades 
of  life ;  and  the  greatest  benefactors  of  mankind  have 
frequently  sprung  from  the  humblest  social  conditions. 
You  may  inherit  outward  show  and  worldly  advantage ; 
but  the  real  personal  character  on  which  all  depends — 
this  each  one  must  acquire  for  himself  by  self-control. 
I  thank  you,  my  dear  madame,  for  having  given  me 
the  opportunity  of  saying  freely  something  which  may 
be  not  wholly  devoid  of  importance  for  the  future.  I 
wish  you  much  happiness  in  your  married  life — and  the 
source  of  happiness  is  of  course  in  our  hearts." 

The  smile  of  scorn  died  away  from  the  lips  of  the  high- 
born dames  ;  the  merchant's  daughter  was  made  the 
happiest  of  women,  and  wherever  this  incident  was  re- 
peated the  hearts  of  the  people  opened  to  their  Queen 


FIELD-MARSHAL    GKKIIAHI)    LKKKKCIIT    VON    BLfCHKK 

[From  the  bust  by  Kauch  in  the  Museum  at  Uurliu.      Photographed  by 
the  Author] 


WHAT   SORT   OF   A    BRINGING-UP  HAD   QUEEN    LUISE       15 

as  to  one  who  came  to  preach  a  new  gospel  of  liberty — 
the  liberty  to  be  a  man,  a  character,  an  influence,  irre- 
spective of  birth  or  titles. 

The  anecdote  I  have  related  is  true.  But  were  it  not, 
I  should  be  inclined  to  reproduce  it  here  to  illustrate 
exactly  what  Luise  would  have  done  under  such  con- 
ditions. 

Queen  Luise  was  born  in  a  narrow,  dingy  street  of 
Hanover  in  1T76.  Her  father  was  an  exceedingly  im- 
pecunious prince  of  Mecklenburg-Strelitz,  and  she  owed 
nearly  all  her  bringing-up  to  her  grandparents  on  the 
mother's  side,  who  lived  near  the  Rhine  at  Darmstadt, 
some  three  hundred  miles  away  to  the  south.  Queen 
Luise  was  not  merely  born  on  British  soil — her  father's 
principal  financial  support  came  from  his  pay  as  a  gen- 
eral in  the  English  arm}r.  What  we  know  of  him  is  little, 
and  that  little  not  complimentar3T.  He  obviously  could 
not  give  his  children  the  education  they  were  entitled 
to,  or  they  would  not  have  been  sent  to  Darmstadt.  In 
fact,  Queen- Luise  may  be  said  to  have  known  no  home 
until  she  came  to  Berlin  as  Crown-Princess  of  Prussia. 

It  was  at  the  age  of  nine  that  Luise  lost  her  mother 
and  was  sent  to  her  grandmother  to  be  brought  up.  The 
journey  lay  through  a  most  interesting  portion  of  Ger- 
many, as  a  glance  at  the  map  will  show,  and  the  child 
Luise,  on  this  her  first  journey,  did  not  fail  to  note  the 
difference  in  speech  and  dress  between  one  frontier  and 
the  other — even  from  one  village  to  another.  She  trav- 
elled from  the  sandy  flats  of  Hanover  through  a  country 
full  of  beautiful  streams,  wooded  mountains,  and  meadows 
wonderfully  fertile.  Here  for  the  first  time  did  she  have 
an  object-lesson  in  political  geography.  The  people  she 
saw  all  spoke  one  German  ;  all  were  of  common  German 
ancestry  ;  all  read  the  same  great  works  of  German  liter- 


16  THE   GERMAN    STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

ature — why,  then,  did  they  not  unite  under  one  flag,  as 
did  the  French  ? 

At  a  time  when  the  French  tongue  ruled  all  courts, 
Luise  assiduously  cultivated  German.  She  could  talk  the 
dialect  of  the  peasants  as  well  as  the  German  of  gram- 
marians, and  was  proud  of  her  accomplishment. 

Queen  Luise  had  as  governess  in  Darmstadt  Mademoi- 
selle de  Gelieu,  a  Swiss  lady  whose  family  had  fled  from 
France  in  consequence  of  the  St.  Bartholomew  massacre. 
This  lady  was  about  thirty  years  old  when  she  under- 
took the  education  of  Luise,  and  was  in  all  respects  a  per- 
son of  conspicuous  merit — of  strong  personal  character, 
and  Protestant  faith.  Aside  from  positive  evidence  on 
this  point  is  the  circumstance  that  she  remained  with 
Luise  up  to  the  moment  of  her  marriage. 

In  the  year  1814,  when  Luise  had  already  been  dead 
four  years,  her  royal  husband,  on  his  return  from  a  vic- 
torious entry  into  Paris,  turned  aside  to  visit  the  little 
rectory  on  the  Lake  of  Neuchatel,  where  this  lady  was 
living  with  her  brother,  the  local  parson.  The  late 
Emperor  William  accompanied  his  father  on  this  journey, 
and  to  both  it  was  a  pilgrimage  full  of  profound  suggestion. 

In  her  childhood  Europe  was  crumbling  about  her, 
and  she  had  occasion  to  hear  of  many  curious  things. 
She  was  thirteen  when  the  Bastille  fell,  and  engaged  to 
be  married  about  the  same  time  that  Louis  XVI.  died 
under  the  guillotine.  Her  future  husband  was  with  the 
allied  army  that  marched  into  France  for  the  purpose  of 
quelling  the  spirit  of  revolution.  It  was  during  this 
campaign  that  her  engagement  was  formally  announced. 
But  even  at  this  time  Luise  must  have  been  struck  by 
the  fact  that  the  Prussian  army  marched  back  again  from 
France  in  1795  without  having  accomplished  anything 
worth  mentioning. 


WHAT   SORT   OF  A   BRINGING-UP  HAD   QUEEN    LUISE         17 

She  had  gone  to  Frankfort  in  1792  to  see  the  corona- 
tion of  the  last  Emperor  of  the  Holy  Koman  Empire; 
and  in  the  year  of  Jena,  when  that  empire  was  dissolved 
by  one  word  of  Napoleon,  she  recalled  the  empty  pagean- 
try of  those  early  days.  She  had  heard  the  guns  of  the 
sans-culotte  army  of  the  Revolution,  and  had  been  forced 
to  flee  like  many  a  princely  family  of  that  day. 

The  old  Emperor  "William  used  to  treasure  with  par- 
ticular care  a  bundle  of  love-letters  signed  Luise.  They 
are  unique  in  a  way,  for  love-letters  are  rarely  written 
in  duplicate. 

This  is  how  it  happened.  Mademoiselle  de  Gelieu  was 
charged  with  superintending  the  correspondence  of  Luise, 
and  particularly  the  correspondence  with  her  future  hus- 
band— for  was  not  this  all  matter  of  etiquette  and  state 
importance  ? 

"  The  post  leaves  to-day  for  Mayence,  your  highness," 
says  mademoiselle,  "  and  your  highness  must  write  a 
letter  to  your  exalted  future  husband." 

So  Luise  seats  herself  obediently  and  begins :  "  Mon 
cher  Fritz!" 

"  What  does  that  mean  ? "  exclaims  mademoiselle,  se- 
verely. "  What  sort  of  style  is  that?" 

"Why,  how  otherwise?"  answers  Luise.  "I  call  him 
Fritz  to  his  face — how  can  I  use  anything  else  on  paper  ?" 

"  You  are  quite  wrong,"  says  the  correct  Mademoi- 
selle de  Gelieu.  "  Young  ladies  of  your  exalted  station 
must  weigh  every  word  carefully  before  you  use  it.  Let 
peasants  romp  and  shout — not  princesses." 

"  But  romping  is  great  fun,"  retorts  Luise. 

"  Minuet  was  invented  for  princesses.  Your  highness 
must  dance  only  minuet  and — write  only  minuet." 

"  Very  well,"  sighs  Luise ;  "  then  let  us  say,  '  My  dear 
Frederick.' " 
I.— 2 


18  THE   GERMAN    STRUGGLE    FOE   LIBERTY 

"  No ;  not  even  that." 

"  What,  then  ?" 

"  Monseigneur  is  the  proper  title  for  one  destined  to 
become  crown-prince." 

And  so  Luise  writes  to  her  monseigneur  in  the  stilted 
French  jargon  of  the  court,  assuring  him,  in  the  style 
of  Racine  and  Corneille,  that  her  heart  is  profoundly 
touched  by  the  sentiment  which  monseigneur  is  gra- 
ciously pleased  to  entertain,  etc. 

Luise  obeyed  so  far  as  that  letter  was  concerned,  but 
insisted  upon  closing  and  sealing  it  herself.  Before  do- 
ing so,  however,  she  always  managed  to  smuggle  in  a 
hasty  scrawl  of  strictly  original  composition  to  "  Fritz," 
her  sweetheart. 

These  letters,  coming  in  pairs — one  to  monseigneur, 
the  other  to  Fritz — are  quaint  testimony  to  the  ceremo- 
nious forms  of  the  day  and  the  fact  that  the  love  of 
Fritz  and  Luise  was  as  genuine  as  it  proved  endur- 
ing. 

Not  only  was  our  Fritz  over  head  and  heels  in  love 
with  young  Princess  Luise ;  it  is  obvious  that  Fritz's 
father  waived  all  considerations  of  a  worldly  nature  and 
blessed  the  young  couple  because  he  saw  in  their  mar- 
riage a  union  promising  more  happiness  to  his  posterity 
than  had  ever  come  into  the  domestic  life  of  himself  or 
his  illustrious  predecessor. 

It  is  a  significant  commentary  upon  the  political  and 
financial  condition  of  Luise's  family  that  her  own  coun- 
try, Mecklenburg  -  Strelitz,  refused  to  make  her  any 
grant  on  the  occasion  of  this  wedding,  although  it  was 
law  of  the  land  that  twenty  thousand  thalers  should  be 
voted  when  a  princess  married.  There  had  been  bad 
relations  for  many  years  between  the  prince  of  the 
country  and  his  House  of  Representatives,  and  here  was 


WHAT    SORT   OF   A    BRINGING-CP    HAD   QUEEN    LUISE        19 

an  opportunity  which  the  tax-paying  section  of  the  com- 
munity could  not  afford  to  neglect. 

But  the  fat  and  luxurious  Prussian  monarch  was  gen- 
erous and  rich.  He  made  no  difficulties  for  the  penni- 
less princess ;  granted  all  that  was  asked  for  on  her 
behalf,  and  even  added,  by  way  of  pin-money,  six  thou- 
sand thalers  yearly,  with  the  stipulation  that  out  of  that 
sum  she  should  pay  for  the  presents  she  might  have  to 
make  on  weddings  and  other  festive  occasions.  I  have 
known  many  a  New  York  miss  with  more  annual  pocket- 
money  than  this;  but  then  a  Prussian  queen  lived  more 
simply  at  that  time  than  does  to-day  the  daughter  of 
a  New  York  merchant. 

Luise  at  least  felt  very  rich  and  looked  forward  to 
doing  a  great  deal  of  good  with  her  precious  six  thou- 
sand thalers  a  year. 


IV 

QUEEN  LUISE  ENTERS  BERLIN  IN  TRIUMPH 

"  God  save  the  King  ;  preserve  the  House  of  Hohenzollern  ;  protect 
our  country;  strengthen  the  German  spirit  ;  cleanse  our  national 
life  from  foreign  imitation  ;  make  Prussia  a  shining  example  in 
the  Germanic  Union;  weld  this  Union  into  the  New  Empire,  and 
grant  us  speedily  the  one  thing  we  sorely  need,  a  wise  Constitu- 
tion.''— Closing  words  of  the  "Turnvater"  Jahn,  Lectures  on 
Volksthum,  1817. 

ON  the  22d  of  December,  1793,  two  days  before  her 
marriage  to  the  Crown-Prince  of  Prussia,  Luise  drove 
in  state  down  the  great  Berlin  avenue  called  Under  the 
Lindens,  and  was  quartered  in  the  same  apartments  of 
the  old  palace  that  had  been  used  by  Frederick  the  Great. 

The  Berliners  are  the  Yankees  of  Germany  —  indus- 
trious, inventive,  sober,  and  witty.  They  are  slow  to 
praise,  but  loyal  to  those  whom  they  trust.  Luise  on 
that  day  won  the  heart  of  Berlin,  and  her  citizens  have 
since  cultivated  her  memory  with  singular  fidelity. 

As  she  entered  the  city  in  state,  her  coach  was  stop- 
ped by  a  group  of  little  girls  dressed  in  white,  with 
wreaths  of  flowers  in  their  hair.  One  of  them  had 
some  verses  of  welcome  to  recite,  and  the  official  pro- 
gramme required  Luise  only  to  make  formal  acknowl- 
edgment and  then  drive  on.  But  she  loved  little  chil- 
dren, and  so  before  the  whole  crowd  of  citizens  she 
picked  the  little  girl  up  in  her  arms  and  kissed  her 
affectionately. 


QUEEN    LUISE    ENTERS    BEKLIN    IN   TRIUMPH  21 

This  was,  however,  quite  outside  of  the  programme, 
and  rather  shocking  to  Luise's  chief  lady-in-waiting,  who 
sat  opposite  to  her  in  the  state  coach  for  the  purpose  of 
warning  her  against  just  such  breaches  of  etiquette. 

But  this  one  touch  of  womanly  feeling,  which  had  not 
been  put  down  on  the  programme,  pleased  the  Berliners 
more  than  all  the  rest  of  the  day's  festive  parade.  They 
had  had  enough  of  kings  and  uniforms — their  eyes  were 
aching  for  the  sight  of  a  real  woman. 

This  stern  lady-in-waiting  was  the  Countess  Voss,  al- 
ready sixty-four  years  of  age.  She  outlived  Luise,  how- 
ever.* This  old  lady  had  come  to  the  Prussian  court  as 
an  attendant  upon  the  mother  of  Frederick  the  Great. 
She  had  fallen  in  love  with  the  Queen's  third  son.  The 
prince  would  have  no  other.  The  court  was  in  an  up- 
roar and  serious  consequence  was  expected — a  suicide  at 
least.  The  Countess  Voss  was,  in  her  youth,  of  exquisite 
beauty  and  of  graceful  proportions.  She  had  also  every 
charm  of  mind  that  makes  a  love  episode  of  this  nature 
possible. 

But  one  after  the  other  of  the  court  besieged  her  with 
prayers  and  threats,  and  finally  she  determined  to  leave 
Berlin  and  her  sweetheart — to  sacrifice  her  first  love,  to 
marry  another. 

She  came  back  in  after-years,  and  named  her  first-born 
after  the  prince  she  had  adored.  But  she  was  not  em- 
bittered. She  retained  the  esteem  of  successive  courts, 

*  Countess  Voss  left  behind  her  a  diary  unique  in  its  way,  for  it 
covers  nearly  seventy  years  of  her  life  spent  at  the  Prussian  court. 
This  diary  was  placed  in  my  hands  by  the  present  representative  of 
the  family.  It  is  written  in  French  and  in  a  hand  almost  illegible. 
A  German  alleged  translation  has  been  published,  but  so  faulty  as  to 
be  almost  valueless.  It  is  greatly  to  be  hoped  that  the  diary  may  some 
day  be  given  to  the  world  exactly  as  it  left  the  hands  of  the  famous 
woman  to  whom  Berliners  still  reverently  refer  as  Die  alte  Voss. 


22  THE    GERMAN   STRUGGLE    FOR    LIBERTY 

and  Frederick  William  II.  made  a  particular  point  of 
having  his  new  daughter-in-law  under  the  care  of  this 
old  lady. 

In  spite  of  the  difference  in  their  ages,  Luise  and  the 
old  Voss  did  well  together.  The  old  lady  had  seen  much 
of  the  world ;  knew  the  ins  and  outs  of  every  intrigue, 
and  was  able  to  save  the  unsuspecting  Luise  from  many 
a  blunder.  But  she  was  at  the  same  time  a  straightfor- 
ward, pure  woman,  loyal  and  high-spirited.  Luise  soon 
came  to  have  enormous  respect  for  her  lady-in-waiting, 
whom  she  treated  as  a  dear,  good,  stiff  grandmamma. 

When  Luise  looked  about  her  rooms  in  the  Berlin  pal- 
ace she  was  struck  by  the  fact  that  the  tapestry  on  the 
walls  represented  only  Scriptural  subjects.  She  knew 
well  enough  that  Frederick  the  Great  had  not  been  over 
partial  to  Biblical  tales.  Of  course  Dame  Voss  gave 
her  the  reasons.  Louis  XV.  of  France  had  ordered  two 
handsome  sets  of  Gobelin  sent  as  presents,  one  to  a 
great  Papal  dignitary,  the  other  to  Frederick  the  Great. 
For  the  churchman  he  had  selected  Bible  pictures ;  for 
the  Alte  Fritz  he  had  arranged  a  set  of  battle  scenes. 

These  Gobelin  tapestries  had  become  mixed  in  the 
packing,  so  that  the  battle  pictures  went  to  the  church, 
and  the  scenes  from  Holy  Writ  astonished  the  eyes  of 
the  least  orthodox  of  Prussian  kings. 

Princess  Luise  was  married  on  Christmas  Eve  of  1793, 
in  the  Weisse  Saal  of  the  Berlin  palace,  where  nowadays 
the  Emperor  opens  Parliament  in  person. 

In  1797  her  husband  became  King  of  Prussia,  and  in 
the  same  year  she  gave  birth  to  William,  First  German 
Emperor,  who  was  destined  three  times  to  go  with  a 
victorious  Germany  across  the  Khine  to  Paris.  Her  life 
as  Queen,  down  to  the  year  of  Jena,  furnishes  little  that 
is  remarkable.  She  loved  to  spend  her  days  in  the  coun- 


KMl'EKOK   NAl'OMiON 


QUEEN    LUISE    ENTERS    BERLIN   IN   TRIUMPH  23 

try  about  Potsdam,  a  region  full  of  beautiful  lakes  and 
forests,  where  Frederick  the  Great  also  spent  much  of 
his  time.  Before  she  had  been  married  ten  years  she  had 
presented  her  husband  with  eight  children,  and  she  found 
much  of  her  happiness  in  their  society. 

One  day  two  English  travellers  hired  a  boat  and  rowed 
over  to  the  Pfauen  (Peacock)  Island,  near  Potsdam. 
They  had  a  natural  curiosity  to  see  the  island  where  the 
royal  family  spent  much  of  their  time,  and,  with  the 
enterprise  characteristic  of  Anglo-Saxons,  succeeded  in 
effecting  a  landing  in  spite  of  notices  and  guards,  which 
are  to-day  as  numerous  as  they  were  one  hundred  years 
ago.  But  the  Lord  Chamberlain  espied  them,  and  they 
received  from  him  very  violent  expressions  of  opinion 
and  orders  to  leave  immediately,  under  penalty  of  arrest. 
So  they  proceeded  to  regain  their  boat.  On  the  way, 
however,  they  met  a  lady  leaning  on  the  arm  of  a  Prus- 
sian officer.  They  did  not  know  who  it  was,  but  raised 
their  hats  politely.  The  lady  addressed  them  in  their 
own  tongue;  said  she  presumed  them  to  be  English; 
were  they  here  for  the  first  time,  and,  if  so,  might  she 
show  them  about  the  park? 

The  Englishmen  were,  of  course,  highly  pleased,  but 
protested  that  they  dared  not  stay  because  the  Lord 
Chamberlain  had  threatened  them  with  arrest  in  case 
they  did  not  at  once  leave. 

"Oh,"  said  the  lady,  with  a  smile,  "I  know  that  offi- 
cial very  well.  He  and  I  are  good  friends.  I  will  inter- 
cede for  you.  He  will  not  be  angry." 

And  so  she  showed  them  about,  chatting  meanwhile 
about  England  and  English  life,  for  which  she  showed 
keen  sympathy. 

At  last  they  came  upon  a  group  of  people  who  bowed 
as  only  courtiers  can  ;  and  then  the  two  Englishmen  sus- 


24  THE    GERMAN    STRUGGLE    FOB    LIBERTY 

pected  that  they  had  been  shown  about  by  no  other  than 
the  King  and  Queen  of  Prussia.  They  tried  to  escape, 
but  Luise  made  them  stay  to  luncheon.  The  Lord  Cham- 
berlain was  appeased,  we  may  be  sure,  and  the  two  Eng- 
lishmen who  rowed  away  from  .the  Pfaueninsel  on  that 
day  were  no  doubt  the  two  happiest  men  in  Prussia. 

The  years  that  passed,  down  to  the  time  of  Jena, 
were  made  memorable  to  Luise  mainly  by  the  journeys 
she  made  and  the  interesting  people  she  met  on  the  way. 
She  travelled,  of  course,  in  the  posting  manner  of  the 
day,  over  roads  little  better  than  are  now  found  in  the 
United  States  or  Kussia ;  for  at  that  time  there  was 
scarcely  a  macadamized  road  in  Prussia,  and  very  few  in 
south  Germany.  We  read  frequently  of  a  breakdown  to 
the  royal  carriage ;  and,  in  fact,  a  postman  of  that  day 
had  to  be  as  full  of  resource  as  the  driver  of  a  California 
mail-coach. 

Travel  is  now  so  rapid  and  so  commonplace  that  we 
are  apt  to  forget  the  enormous  role  it  played  in  the  edu- 
cation of  our  ancestors.  The  journey  from  Berlin  to  Paris 
occupied  then  more  time  than  at  present  from  Berlin  to 
New  York,  and  represented  contact  with  many  people 
in  many  towns  and  villages  on  the  way.  To-day  the 
traveller  sees  no  one  but  the  sleeping-car  porter  or  the 
train  conductor  in  a  journey  carrying  him  perhaps  from 
Paris  to  Constantinople.  What  he  learns  of  the  land  and 
people  is  simply  a  fence  of  telegraph  poles  and  a  railway 
station  at  intervals.  To  get  an  idea  of  what  travel  meant 
one  hundred  years  ago  we  must  now  go  yachting,  or 
move  on  a  bicycle,  or  on  foot,  or,  better  still,  paddle  our 
own  canoe ;  for  only  by  these  means  can  we  secure  the 
educational  benefits  of  travel. 

It  is  noteworthy  that  the  Germans  who  have  made 
deep  impression  on  their  age  have  been  good  travellers. 


QUEEN    LUISE   ENTERS   BERLIN    IN   TRIUMPH  25 

They  have  consciously  or  unconsciously  acted  on  the  prin- 
ciple that  a  politician,  to  be  of  power,  must  know  well 
the  sources  of  his  power — the  people  for  whom  he  is  to 
legislate.  Luther  had  tramped  his  Germany  and  far  be- 
yond before  he  ventured  upon  the  Reformation.  He  had 
talked  with  Germans  of  every  state,  and  knew  pretty 
well  what  was  in  their  thoughts  about  Papal  abuses, 
before  he  nailed  his  theses  on  the  doors  of  Wittenberg 
church. 

The  leaders  of  the  German  movement  for  liberty 
were  conspicuously  men  who  had  tramped  their  country 
thoroughly  and  studied  the  public  feeling  wherever  they 
went.  Ernst  Moritz  Arndt,  who  sang  of  United  Ger- 
many; Jahn,  the  father  of  the  gymnastic  societies — 
these  two  spent  most  of  their  pocket-money  on  foot 
journeys.  Bliicher,  Gneisenau,  Hardenberg,  Stein,  were 
men  who  knew  what  they  were  talking  about  when 
they  proposed  popular  measures,  for  they  knew  the 
people  of  every  province. 

Queen  Luise  knew  her  Germany  well.  Before  her 
engagement  she  had  visited  south  Germany  and  Stras- 
burg;  had  also  made  a  trip  incognita  to  Holland. 
From  Darmstadt  she  had  visited  Frankfort,  and  then 
the  Thuringian  Forest. 

On  her  wedding-trip  to  Berlin  from  Darmstadt  she  had 
travelled  by  way  of  Wiirzburg,  Erfurt,  Weimar,  Leip- 
zig—  names  that  awaken  the  echoes  of  historic  events. 
She  did  not  then  associate  Wiirzburg  with  the  school 
years  of  Gneisenau,  and  little  dreamed  that  in  a  few 
years  Napoleon  would  be  there  on  his  way  to  Jena.  At 
Erfurt  she  no  doubt  refreshed  her  love  for  Luther's 
heroism  by  visiting  the  monastery  cell  where  he  lived 
as  a  monk.  Here  Gneisenau  was  a  wild  student  and 
first  entered  military  life,  but  in  that  year  Gneisenau 


26  THE   GEEMAN   STRUGGLE   FOE   LIBERTY 

was  as  insignificant  as  many  another  hero  before  the 
time  of  trial. 

She  could  not  suspect  that  Erfurt  would  be  surren- 
dered to  France  after  Jena  without  a  blow,  and  that 
in  1808  Napoleon  would  hold  here  a  Congress  of  Kings 
as  in  a  minor  capital  of  France. 

Weimar  was  then  the  most  interesting  literary  and 
artistic  town  of  Germany,  not  merely  on  account  of 
Goethe  and  Schiller  and  other  notable  men  who  fre- 
quented it,  but  from  the  fact  that  nearly  every  one  of 
distinction  who  travelled  Germany  in  these  years  man- 
aged to  spend  some  of  his  time  in  Weimar,  where  the 
ruling  prince  did  everything  to  make  such  a  visit  profit- 
able and  agreeable  to  travellers  of  note. 

To  be  sure,  Luise  travelled  as  Queen,  and  royal  peo- 
ple are  generally  bad  travellers ;  but  she  had  a  rare  gift 
of  finding  interesting  people  and  learning  truths  that 
were  often  concealed  from  her  husband. 

In  the  first  year  after  becoming  Queen  (1798)  she 
visited  the  Baltic  and  saw  Prussian  sea-going  ships  for 
the  first  time,  at  Dantzic  and  Konigsberg.  It  was  a  tri- 
umphal procession  to  celebrate  the  new  sovereigns'  ac- 
cession to  the  throne.  Luise  was  delighted  with  her  re- 
ception, and  the  King  inspected  troops  everywhere  and 
received  deputations.  He  was  at  the  head  of  an  army 
of  250,000  men,  of  a  state  with  10,000,000  inhabitants ; 
he  was  courted  as  an  ally  by  all  the  great  powers.  How 
could  Luise  suspect  that  in  a  very  few  years  she  would 
be  flying  over  these  same  roads  with  French  troops 
pressing  close  behind  her  ! 

In  Konigsberg  a  deputation  of  merchants  begged 
Queen  Luise  to  intercede  with  her  husband  in  the  in- 
terests of  Prussian  commerce.  This  should  have  opened 
the  King's  eyes  to  the  strange  fact  that  Prussia,  with  her 


GENEKAL   GNEISENAU,   BLUCHEll'S   CHIEF   OF   STAFF 


QCEEN    LUISE   ENTERS   BERLIN   IN   TRIUMPH  27 

many  ports  and  her  valuable  commerce,  had  not  a  single 
man-of-war!  But  we  fail  to  discover  that  the  King 
profited  by  this  journey ;  he  looked  at  soldiers  as  so 
many  uniforms,  he  heard  reports  and  addresses,  and 
took  everything  for  granted. 

From  Konigsberg  the  journey  continued  through 
Poland  to  Warsaw,  then  a  Prussian  town,  and  back  by 
way  of  Breslau  and  Silesia — an  enormous  journey  for 
that  day  measured  by  time  and  hardship. 

In  the  next  year  another  long  tour  was  made,  to  her 
birthplace,  Hanover,  which  was  soon  (1803)  to  be  seized 
by  France ;  to  Cassel,  where  Napoleon  III.  was  confined 
in  1870;  to  Anspach  and  Bayreuth,  wrhich  then  be- 
longed to  Prussia ;  and  home  again  through  the  beauti- 
ful Thuringian  towns,  notably  Eisenach,  where  Luther 
made  his  famous  translation  of  the  Bible  in  the  Wart- 
burg  Castle  overlooking  the  town. 

In  1800  she  once  more  visited  Silesia,  Prussia's  richest 
province,  and  notably  Breslau,  the  city  which  in  1813 
became  the  Mecca  of  all  Germans  who  meant  to  free 
their  country  from  French  oppression.  In  1802  Luise 
made  her  second  journey  to  Konigsberg  and  beyond,  to 
Tilsit.  Here  the  royal  pair  met  the  Russian  Emperor, 
and  here  five  years  later  she  was  to  be  dragged  a  sup- 
pliant into  the  presence  of  the  First  Xapoleon.  Memel 
too  she  visited  for  the  first  time — the  last  and  most 
northern  town  of  Prussia — where  she  was  destined  to 
shed  many  a  bitter  tear  while  expecting  each  hour  the 
order  to  lay  down  her  crown  and  seek  an  asylum  in  a 
foreign  land. 

In  1802,  however,  the  Prussian  King  and  the  Russian 
Cxar  feasted  and  held  military  reviews  together.  Their 
ministers  meanwhile  were  drawing  up  papers  and  sign- 
ing away  German  lands  on  the  Rhine,  in  consideration 


28  THE   GERMAN   STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

of  other  booty  elsewhere.  Napoleon  wanted  all  the 
left  bank  of  the  great  German  river,  and  Frederick 
William  III.  had  consented  to  this  act  of  spoliation  on 
condition  that  he  be  well  paid  in  other  ways.  Next 
year  south  Germany  was  again  visited ;  Erfurt,  Bam- 
berg,  Bayreuth,  Darmstadt,  and  in  1805  the  borders  of 
Bohemia  and  Bavaria. 

These  long  journeys  to  every  corner  of  Germany 
were  calculated  to  afford  an  average  monarch  the  best 
possible  means  of  knowing  the  strength  of  his  own 
army.  Since  1793  Frederick  William  III.  had  seen  from 
year  to  year  France  adding  to  her  territory  mainly  by 
annexing  German  land.  His  was  the  only  German 
government  which  could  unite  the  others  in  resistance 
to  French  aggression ;  he  was  the  big  brother  of  the 
family,  and  all  Germany  looked  to  him  for  leadership. 
But  in  all  his  travels  he  never  once  recognized  this 
phase  of  his  duty  and  opportunity.  Each  time  that 
Napoleon  stole  a  piece  of  Germany  he  shared  some  of 
his  plunder  with  Frederick  William  III.,  and  thus  made 
Prussia  party  to  his  crimes  against  the  great  Father- 
land. 

The  little  states  were  not  slow  in  seeing  that  the  King 
of  Prussia  was  not  honest  with  them,  that  he  was  little 
more  than  an  ally  of  France.  Can  we  blame  them,  there- 
fore, if  in  the  year  of  Jena  they  all  declined  to  support 
him? 

Queen  Luise,  of  course,  knew  nothing  of  the  dishonest 
diplomatic  work  that  was  going  on  in  the  cabinet  of 
her  husband.  As  a  good  wife  and  a  German  who  loved 
her  country  she  believed  in  her  King  and  husband ;  and 
if  events  of  the  day  seemed  discouraging,  she  had  faith, 
and  believed  that  matters  were  shaping  themselves  to 
good  purpose.  She  grew  up  among  people  who  knew 


QUEEN    LUI8E    ENTERS   BERLIN    IN   TRIUMPH  29 

and  had  fought  under  the  Great  Frederick ;  she  had  en- 
tered Berlin  as  a  bride  in  the  same  year  that  saw  the 
completion  of  the  glorious  Brandenburg  Triumphal 
Arch,  which  was  erected  to  commemorate  Prussian  tri- 
umphs. Her  ears  had  caught  in  that  year  for  the  first 
time  the  strains  of  Germany's  national  anthem,  "  Heil 
dir  im  Siegeskranz,"  a  song  written  in  1793,  and  destined 
to  rank  with  the  "  "Wacht  am  Rhein  "  in  power  to  kindle 
German  enthusiasm  for  a  fighting  fatherland. 

From  that  year  to  Jena  she  heard  of  Prussia  only  as 
a  steadily  increasing  power  in  which  the  traditions  of 
Frederick  the  Great  were  kept  alive  by  a  greater  army 
than  Frederick  ever  had.  Prussian  generals  said  to  her : 
"  What  if  Napoleon  has  whipped  the  Austrians,  the  Rus- 
sians, the  Italians,  and  the  Dutch — what  are  those  com- 
pared with  the  battalions  of  Frederick  ?'' 

And  that  is  why  the  Prussians  marched  so  gayly 
towards  Jena. 


THE     TWO     PHILOSOPHERS     OF     JENA  —  HEGEL     AND 
NAPOLEON 

"  The  dawn  of  the  new  German  world  has  commenced.  .  .  .  Wherever 
the  German  tongue  is  spoken,  there  is  the  longing  for  a  new  Ger- 
man Empire.  .  .  ." — Words  of  Jahn  written  in  the  visitors'  album 
on  the  Wartburg,  near  Eisenach,  on  July  24,  1814,  on  his  way 
home  from  the  victorious  campaign  against  Napoleon. 

IN  the  night  of  October  14,  1806,  a  great  German 
philosopher  named  Hegel  occupied  himself  with  the 
closing  lines  of  a  very  learned  work  about  positive  con- 
ceptions and  historical  infinities.  He  called  his  book 
Phenomenology. 

His  lamp  burned  late  that  night,  for  on  the  next  morn- 
ing the  manuscript  was  to  be  sent  by  post  to  his  pub- 
lisher. 

Another  lamp  was  burning  late  on  that  same  night, 
almost  next  door.  Another  philosopher,  and  a  vastly 
more  practical  one,  was  preparing  for  the  press  a  manu- 
script quite  as  perplexing  as  that  of  Hegel.  This  philos- 
opher, however,  could  not  wait  until  the  morning  before 
posting  his  manuscript,  but  sent  it  off  at  once  to  Paris. 

Both  philosophers  burned  their  lamps  at  the  same 
hour  in  the  beautiful  little  university  town  of  Jena,  and 
the  man  who  sent  his  manuscript  first  was  Napoleon 
Bonaparte. 

The  German  philosopher  rose  early  on  the  morning  of 


Augereau  Napoleon  Lnnnes  Hegel 

TWO   PHILOSOPHERS   MEET   AT   JENA 


THE    TWO    PHILOSOPHERS    OF    JENA  31 

October  15th,  and,  with  his  precious  Phenomenology  under 
his  arm,  walked  to  the  post-office.  Here  he  learned  for 
the  first  time  that  Napoleon  had  fought  a  great  battle ; 
that  a  Prussian  army  had  been  routed  ;  that  French 
troops  occupied  every  village  of  this  sweet,  smiling  Saxon 
country,  and  no  post  would  leave  Jena  that  day. 

So  Hegel  prepared  to  trudge  back  to  his  desk  and  wait 
for  better  times  before  giving  Phenomenology  to  the 
world.  As  he  pressed  the  precious  bundle  under  his  arm 
a  clattering  of  hoofs  caused  him  to  stand  aside  in  time 
to  salute,  with  unaffected  humility,  the  man  who  had  on 
the  day  before  manured  two  battle-fields  with  German 
carcasses.  In  later  days  the  author  of  Phenomenology 
referred  to  this  one  peep  at  the  conqueror  as  a  most  ex- 
alting moment.  Hegel  adored  in  Napoleon  the  great 
mind,  the  philosophic  intellect.  He  recognized  in  him  a 
colleague  —  a  professor  in  another  faculty  —  who  had 
written  better  stuff  than  even  Phenomenology. 

There  were  many  men  in  the  Germany  of  1806  who 
were  fiddling  and  philosophizing  while  French  troops 
marched  across  their  country.  Let  us  not  judge  Hegel 
too  harshly,  for  he  was  in  the  fashion.  German  men  of 
letters,  Germans  who  pretended  to  elegance  in  social 
matters,  had  been  brought  up  to  regard  patriotism  as 
savoring  of  bad  taste,  if  not  positive  vulgarity.  The 
plain  people  preserved  their  national  feelings,  but  in  1806 
the  plain  people  were  not  asked  their  opinion  on  current 
events.  Germany  had  been  trained  to  docility  for  gen- 
erations past,  and  this  docility  had  turned  into  political 
imbecility.  The  country  was  full  of  Hegels  who  never 
bothered  their  heads  whether  they  were  governed  by 
Turk  or  Tycoon.  Whatever  came  from  above  they  ac- 
cepted with  meekness ;  if  the  taxes  were  heavy  they 
paid  them  with  a  groan,  if  they  were  light  they  paid 


82  THE   GERMAN   STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

them  with  a  smile ;  but  in  any  case  they  paid  them,  and 
never  asked  themselves  who  received  the  money  or  what 
it  was  spent  for.  Napoleon  won  the  battle  because 
Prussia  was  full  of  men  like  Hegel — Hegels  in  the  uni- 
versities, Hegels  in  the  government  offices,  Hegels  even 
at  the  head  of  the  army. 


VI 

THE  EVE  OF  JENA,  OCTOBER  13,  1806 

"  Wahrlich  Unfahigkeit  und  Kopflosigkeit  an  alien  Orten  !"*— V.  Let- 
tow,  p.  274,  I. 

"L'armee  prussienne  offrait  1'etrange  spectacle  de  1'audace  la  plus 
temferaire,  commandee  par  la  senilite." — Lanfrey,  iii.,  473. 

ON  the  20th  of  September,  1806,  the  royal  travelling- 
carriage  rolled  into  the  palace  court  of  Charlottenburg, 
near  Berlin.  Queen  Luise  and  her  husband  took  their 
seats  and  were  driven  to — Jena.  They  made  their  head- 
quarters at  Naumburg,  which  is  about  half-way  between 
Leipzig  and  Erfurt,  and  there  they  spent  two  weeks,  in 
which  the  King'  watched  his  showily  dressed  troops 
marching  on  to  the  front  to  do  battle  with  the  French. 

In  this  neighborhood  the  Prussian  army  took  a  loose, 
straggling  position,  with  the  general  idea  of  checking 
Napoleon  should  he  try  to  break  through  into  Prussia. 
The  King  was,  of  course,  the  head  of  the  army,  but  the 
Duke  of  Brunswick  had  been  appointed  commander-in- 
chief. 

This  old  man  had  served  under  the  great  Frederick, f 
was  then  seventy  odd  years  of  age,  and  had  solemnly 
said  to  a  group  of  officers  shortly  before  Jena:  "The 

*  Translation  :  "  Truly,  at  all  points  incapacity  and  loss  of  head  !" 
f  Pasquier  (i.,  230)  says  that  even  in  France  "La  Prusse  avail  en- 
core (1806)  le  prestige  attache  aux  creations  inilitaires  du  Grand  Fre- 
deric." 

L— 3 


34  THE   GERMAN    STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

[Prussian]  army  is,  in  spite  of  all  that  has  happened  of 
late,  and  even  without  improvements,  unquestionably  the 
first  army  of  the  world."  This  reminds  us  of  the  lan- 
guage held  by  the  marshals  of  Napoleon  III.  in  the 
summer  of  1870. 

The  Prussian  army  was  at  the  centre  of  Germany, 
surrounded  by  people  who  not  only  spoke  a  common 
tongue,  but  who  were  actively  in  sympathy  with  its 
purpose  of  defeating  the  French.  This  great  army  down 
to  the  morning  of  the  14th  of  October  never  once  found 
out  where  Napoleon  was,  where  his  troops  were,  how 
many  were  marching,  or  in  what  direction.  Frederick 
"William  III.  had  every  facility  for  learning  all  about 
Napoleon,  for  the  French  army  had  been  in  Germany 
during  many  weeks  past,  and  Prussian  officers  could  have 
travelled  about  in  disguise  without  difficulty. 

It  does  not  need  a  professional  soldier  to  tell  us  that 
when  going  to  war  it  is  important  to  know  where  the 
enemy  is,  and  how  strong  he  is.  On  September  13,  1806, 
Napoleon  wrote  to  his  agent  at  Munich  to  keep  him  in- 
formed in  regard  to  the  movements  of  the  Prussian  army ; 
that  war  would  break  out  as  soon  as  Prussians  crossed 
into  Saxony.  "  You  will  then  write  to  Rapp,  in  Stras- 
burg,  to  telegraph  me,  and  one  hour  afterwards  I  shall 
be  on  the  way  to  "Wiirzburg." 

Here  is  a  practical  man.  He  has  a  telegraphic  line  of 
semaphores  reaching  from  Paris  to  every  corner  of  his 
empire,  and  can  communicate  with  Strasburg  in  half  an 
hour,  whereas  the  ordinary  post  required  four  days.  The 
King  of  Prussia  had  no  telegraphs,  and  it  took  nine 
days  for  a  courier  to  get  from  Paris  to  Berlin,  a  journey 
now  done  in  one  day  and  night. 

Yet  telegraphs  were  no  new  thing  in  Europe.  The 
French  had  used  them  in  the  army  of  the  Revolution  ten 


THE    EVE   OF   JENA,  OCTOBER   13,  1806  35 

years  before.  Why  did  not  Prussia  also  have  telegraphs 
from  Berlin  to  her  frontiers?  Strange  as  it  may  seem, 
I  am  assured  by  the  editor  of  the  famous  Brockhaus  En- 
cyclopaedia that  not  until  1832  did  Prussia  operate  her 
first  optical  telegraph  between  Berlin  and  the  Rhine. 
The  Encyclopaedia  itself  is  silent  on  this  subject.  Even 
the  excellent  Post  Museum  in  Berlin  could  give  me  no 
information  in  this  matter. 

Napoleon  knew  pretty  much  all  there  was  to  know 
about  the  Prussian  army,  its  movements,  and  that  is 
why,  on  September  12th,  he  wrote  to  Talleyrand : 

"  The  idea  that  Prussia  will  venture  to  attack  me  single-handed  is  so 
ridiculous  that  it  deserves  no  notice.  My  alliance  with  Prussia  is  based 
upon  her  fear  of  me.  That  cabinet  is  so  contemptible,  the  King  so 
devoid  of  character,"  etc. 

Six  days  after  Queen  Luise  and  Frederick  William 
had  started  from  Berlin,  Napoleon  left  Paris.  In  two 
days  (September  28th)  he  was  on  the  Rhine,  at  Mainz, 
and  had  made  every  disposition  for  an  offensive  move, 
to  begin  on  October  3d.  His  troops  had  been  in  garri- 
son all  the  way  from  Bonn,  on  the  Rhine,  to  Braunau, 
on  the  Inn — Braunau,  where  poor  John  Palm  was  mur- 
dured.  On  October  4th  his  army  of  invasion  had  united 
with  great  rapidity  on  the  line  Wiirzburg-Baireuth,  and 
already  on  the  7th  began  the  great  forward  move  of  the 
whole  mass  straight  on  Berlin. 

He  had  160,000  men  with  him,  divided  into  six  army 
corps.  These  men  had  for  the  most  part  done  severe 
marching  to  reach  their  places  in  time,  as  a  glance  at 
the  map  will  show.  Two  regiments  and  the  Corps  Ar- 
tillery, for  instance,  had  been  ordered  to  be  in  Wiirzburg 
on  October  3d,  marching  all  the  way  from  Bonn.  It 
was  a  twelve  days'  march,  for  which  Napoleon  had 


36  THE    GERMAN    STRUGGLE   FOE   LIBERTY 

allowed  onty  nine  days.  But  these  troops  made  it  in 
eight  days,  arriving  on  October  2d.  A  day's  march  for 
troops  was  22-J  kilometres  in  the  French  army.  This 
made  an  average  of  more  than  33£  kilometres  for  eight 
consecutive  days. 

Napoleon  had  on  this  campaign  a  manuscript  map 
prepared  by  his  engineer  corps.  The  Prussians  had 
only  a  Saxon  map  published  in  1763,  and  reaching  no 
further  than  the  river  Werra  and  the  Saale,  at  Hof ; 
map-making  in  general  was  then  in  its  infancy.  There 
was  no  topographical  map  of  Prussia  in  existence,  al- 
though a  beginning  had  been  made  in  1803,  covering 
only  the  extreme  northern  corner  on  the  Baltic.* 

In  1812  there  was  captured  at  the  Beresina,  in  Na- 
poleon's baggage,  a  manuscript  map  of  central  Europe 
on  a  scale  1 : 100,000.  The  original  is  in  St.  Peters- 
burg, and  the  only  copy  extant,  so  far  as  I  know,  is  in 
the  Berlin  Military  Intelligence  Bureau.  Of  this  copy 
I  have  had  the  use,  thanks  to  the  kindness  of  the 

*"The  army  [Prussian]  was  most  scantily  equipped  even  with  the 
most  needful  geographical  material.  We  discovered  later  that  Gen- 
eral Von  Billow  in  the  Lausitz  did  not  possess  the  one  useful  map  of 
Saxony,  that  of  Petri, . . .  although  it  was  at  the  time  on  sale  at  Schropp's 
(in  Berlin).  Even  I  had  the  map  in  my  possession,  and  would  gladly 
have  given  it  for  this  purpose  had  I  known  that  it  was  wanted  there. 
.  .  .  When  one  has  been  witness,  as  I  have,  to  the  enormous  sums  paid 
by  French  commanders  for  maps  at  Schropp's  establishment  alone,  and 
how  they  laid  out  capital  sums  for  such  large  maps  as  that  of  Russia 
in  204  sheets,  our  parsimony  in  this  respect  is  hard  to  comprehend." — 
Kloden,  p.  312. 

"There  also  [at  Bautzen]  the  want  of  good  maps  was  keenly  felt, 
whereas  Napoleon  had  the  most  exact  knowledge  of  his  battle  ground 
by  the  use  of  the  large  topographical  survey  maps  of  Saxony  belonging 
to  the  King  of  that  country,  and  which  existed  only  in  drawings. 
These  are  said  to  have  been  of  great  service  to  Napoleon." — Kloden,  p. 
313.  This  refers  to  the  year  1813,  and  applies,  therefore,  with  even 
greater  force  to  the  year  of  Jena. 


THE   EVE   OF  JENA,  OCTOBER  13,  1806  3? 

German  government.  The  map  here  presented  has 
been  based  upon  that  map  of  Napoleon's,  in  order 
that  the  reader  may  be  able  to  place  himself  in  the 
same  state  of  knowledge  as  was  enjoyed  by  the  French 


JENA    AND   ITS   SURROUNDINGS 

From  the  great  map,  in  sixty-four  sections,  which  was  captured  from  Napoleon  at  the 
crossing  of  the  Beresina 

conqueror.  I  have  reason  to  think  that  Napoleon  pre- 
pared this  map  some  time  before  Jena,  and  kept  it  as 
accurate  as  possible  on  account  of  its  great  importance 
to  him. 

Napoleon  left  Bamberg  on  October  8th  at  three  in 
the  morning,  and  at  six  of  the  same  morning  was  set- 
tled in  his  next  headquarters  dictating  orders.  He  gen- 


38  THE   GERMAN   STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

erally  travelled  in  the  night,  when  the  roads  were  clear, 
and  he  consequently  could  drive  more  rapidly.  He 
would  lie  down  to  sleep  about  six  in  the  afternoon,  and 
at  about  midnight  would  be  sending  out  orders  for  the 
morrow.  In  this  way  he  was  able  to  draw  in  all  pos- 
sible information  regarding  the  day's  movements  before 
himself  proposing  another  move. 

All  this  was  wearing  work,  such  work  as  the  Prussian 
army  could  not  or  would  not  do. 

Napoleon  and  most  of  his  marshals  were  between 
thirtj'-five  and  thirty-seven  years  old.  On  the  Prus- 
sian side  the  King  alone  was  within  these  years.  His 
commander -in -chief  was  not  fit  to  be  on  horseback. 
Out  of  66  colonels  in  the  infantry  of  the  line,  28  were 
over  sixty  years;  of  281  majors,  86  were  over  fifty-five 
and  190  more  than  fifty  years  old. 

On  October  8th  appeared  a  Bulletin,  of  which  Napo- 
leon was  editor-in-chief,  saying,  amongst  other  things : 
"The  Queen  of  Prussia  is  with  the  army,  dressed  as 
an  Amazon,  and  wearing  the  uniform  of  her  dragoon 
regiment.  She  writes  twenty  letters  a  day  to  fan  the 
flames  in  all  directions.  One  might  fancy  her  an  Armi- 
da,  who  in  her  excitement  sets  fire  to  her  own  palace." 
Now,  considering  that  Armida  was  a  classic  heroine 
noted  chiefly  for  having  seduced  several  young  men 
from  the  path  of  virtue,  it  will  be  admitted  that  the 
simile  is  not  chaste. 

This  bulletin  of  Napoleon  was  so  public  an  insult 
that  in  Prussia  at  least  it  was  never  forgotten  or  for- 
given. Luise  was  destined  to  receive  additional  insults 
from  the  hands  of  this  soldier,  but  none  more  deeply 
resented  by  the  people  of  Germany.* 

*In  the  Holienzollern  Museum  of  Berlin  are  preserved  two  cartoons 


THE   EVE   OF    JENA,  OCTOBER   13,  1806  39 

i 

The  date  of  this  bulletin  may  be  taken  as  the  date 
when  war  was  formally  declared,  for  the  Prussian  King 
had  threatened  to  fight  France  in  case  Napoleon  did 
not  yield  to  his  demands  by  October  8th. 

On  the  afternoon  of  October  13th  Napoleon  arrived 
in  the  beautiful  little  university  town  of  Jena,  on  the 
river  Saale.  Had  he  followed  the  example  of  the  Prus- 
sians he  would  have  gone  quietly  to  bed  and  waited 
until  morning  before  doing  anything  further.  But  he 
did  what  any  practical  commander  would  do  in  such  a 
case  —  drew  in  all  possible  information  regarding  the 
strength  of  the  enemy. 

Jena  is  dominated  by  a  high  plateau,  whose  sides  run 
steeply  down  the  river  Saale  and  the  town.  For  our 
purposes  we  may  roughly  compare  this  plateau  to  the 

of  Queen  Luise,  published  in  Paris  for  the  purpose  of  strengthening 
the  popular  notion  that  this  gentle  creature  was  a  species  of  unsexed 
Amazon.     One  of  these  cartoons  is  called  ' '  La  Keine  de  Prusse  apres 
la  Bataille  de  Jena."    It  represents  rather  a  pretty  woman  in  a  semi- 
military  dress  seated  on  a  rock  with  a  sabre  beside  her.     A  horse  stands 
nearby  decked  out  in  cavalry  style,  with  Prussian  eagles  worked  upon 
the  holsters.     These  words  are  printed  beneath  the  picture  : 
"Ignorant  quels  perils  envirounent  la  gloire, 
J'animais  mes  soldats  et  guidais  leurs  drapeaux, 
Je  voulus  vivre  en  Reine  et  mourir  en  heros 
Et  ne  trouvais  la  mort  ni  n'obtins  la  victoire." 

This  was  published  under  government  license,  and  no  doubt  at  gov.- 
ernment  instigation.  The  second  cartoon  represents  Queen  Luise  as 
a  camp-follower  of  loose  habits.  She  wears  a  shako  on  her  head;  a 
hussar  jacket  which  is  thrown  open  so  as  to  expose  her  breasts  and  a 
bit  of  chemise.  These  are  the  only  two  military  cartoons  of  Luise  in 
the  Hohenzollern  Museum.  It  is  hard  to  say  which  is  the  more  re- 
markable :  that  Napoleon  should  thus  have  allowed  this  lady  to  be  in- 
sulted, or  that  he  should  so  contemptuously  have  regarded  I  lie  Prus- 
sian King  as  to  regard  this  Queen  as  the  virtual  leader  of  the  Prussian 
army.  In  any  case,  we  know  that  Queen  Luise  felt  deeply  the  dirty 
methods  by  which  Napoleon  sought  to  undermine  her  influence. 


40  THE   GERMAN   STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

parade-ground  of  West  Point,  and  assume  that  the 
enemy  was  expected  to  march  up  from  the  shore  of 
the  Hudson  River.  So  strong  is  this  Jena  plateau  by 
nature  that  a  handful  of  troops  could  easily  hold  in 
check  a  very  much  larger  force.  On  this  particular 
evening  each  side  had  about  50,000,  the  advantage  of 
numbers  resting  with  Prussia.  Napoleon,  of  course, 
expected  to  find  this  plateau  bristling  with  cannon,  and 
looked  forward  to  a  severe  struggle  for  its  possession. 

To  his  amazement  he  was  told  that  the  Prussians 
had  not  even  taken  the  trouble  to  occupy  it.  This 
was  so  improbable  that  he  climbed  in  person  to  the 
top,  and  satisfied  himself  that  Prussian  commanders 
could  be  guilty  of  such  folly  as  would  make  a  militia 
volunteer  blush.  The  fact  was  that  the  Prussian  gen- 
eral found  the  plateau  rather  chilly  these  October 
nights,  and  had  sought  more  agreeable  shelter  farther 
back  in  the  hollows.  He  had  evidently  convinced  him- 
self that  the  approach  to  this  plateau  was  so  difficult 
that  no  artillery  could  possibly  get  up  to  it. 

And  it  Avas,  of  course,  exactly  by  this  most  difficult 
approach  that  Napoleon  did  drag  up  his  artillery. 
AVhen  I  visited  the  battle-field  in  1893  I  found  this 
road  in  practically  the  same  state  as  it  was  described  in 
1806 — a  species  of  gully  washed  out  of  shape  by  rain- 
storms. Napoleon  set  his  men  to  work  with  pick  and 
shovel.  He  superintended  the  work  himself.  As  an 
officer  of  artillery,  it  was  a  work  particularly  congenial 
to  him,  and  he  soon  had  the  path  so  widened  that  be- 
fore daylight  all  his  artillery  was  up  in  position — just 
where  the  guns  of  Frederick  William  would  have  been 
had  his  generals  shown  even  a  very  small  amount  of 
practical  sense  or  energy. 

While  Napoleon  was  feeling  his  way  about  on  the 


FRENCH  TROOPS  ENTER  A  GERMAN  VILLAGE 


THE    EVE    OF    JENA,   OCTOBER    13,  1806  41 

plateau  of  Jena,  guided  by  the  light  of  torches,  and 
preparing  for  a  battle  on  the  morrow,  the  Prussian 
King  was  at  a  little  village  twelve  miles  away,  called 
Auerstadt.  This  place  is  too  small  to  be  named  on  or- 
dinary maps,  but  can  be  readily  found  on  a  line  almost 
due  north  from  Jena,  at  a  point  as  far  from  Jena  as 
Weimar  is  from  Jena.  Auerstadt  is  almost  equally 
distant  from  Jena  and  "Weimar,  and  not  four  miles 
from  the  river  Saale,  along  whose  right  bank  French 
troops  had  been  marching  for  three  days  past,  this  being 
the  best  route  towards  Berlin. 

The  King  here  called  a  council  of  war,  made  up  of 
the  Duke  of  Brunswick,  a  Field-Marshal  Mollendorf, 
•who  was  then  eighty  years  old,  four  generals,  and  two 
colonels.  This  assemblage  represented  what  was  then 
regarded  as  the  highest  military  authority  in  Prussia. 
They  talked  and  they  talked,  and  they  kept  on  talking, 
without  even  knowing  that  Napoleon's  army  was  within 
cannon  range  o^  them. 

.  During  the  evening  of  October  13th  the  French 
Marshal  Davoust  occupied  the  Saale  crossing  at  Kosen, 
only  a  three  hours'  march  from  Auerstadt  in  a  north- 
east direction.  While  the  Prussians,  therefore,  were 
holding  their  senseless  powwow  at  Auerstadt,  the 
French  had  not  only  approached  their  front,  they  were 
already  in  a  position  to  cut  them  off  from  Berlin. 

The  Prussian  General  Schmettau  knew  that  the  pass 
at  Kosen  was  undefended,  but  said  that  it  would  be 
time  enough  on  the  morrow.  He  went  to  bed  and  slept 
soundly. 

In  the  middle  of  the  night  the  commander-in-chief  at 
last  thought  it  might  be  prudent  to  guard  the  passes 
over  the  Saale  against  surprise,  and  therefore  ordered 
that  this  should  be  done  on  the  14th,  and,  of  course, 


42  THE    GERMAN   STRUGGLE    FOR   LIBERTY 

by  the  time  his  order  was  penned  every  pass  was  already 
in  French  hands. 

At  this  famous  council  of  war  held  by  the  King  in 
Auerstadt,  old  Brunswick,  the  commander,  could  not 
keep  awake.  He  dozed  part  of  the  time,  and  imme- 
diately after  it  was  over  went  to  bed  and  spent  four 
hours  in  sleep.  Prince  Hohenlohe,  who  commanded 
the  advance  army  at  Jena,  also  spent  the  night  in  bed. 
His  troops  were  sound  asleep  when  Napoleon's  artillery 
opened  fire  at  daybreak  of  October  14th.  The  ever- 
alert  and  enterprising  Bliicher  came  in  the  night  with 
an  important  message  to  the  King ;  the  message  could 
not  be  delivered.  The  King  also  was  asleep,  and  had 
given  orders  that  he  was  not  to  be  disturbed. 

And  so  the  eve  of  Jena  was  slumbered  away  by  50,000 
of  Prussia's  best  troops,  commanded  by  professional 
soldiers,  who  had  been  selected  for  this  duty  by  Fred- 
erick William  III.  When  Queen  Luise  in  the  year  fol- 
lowing, said  to  Napoleon  that  Prussia  had  fallen  asleep 
on  the  laurels  of  the  great  Frederick,  she  no  doubt  had 
in  mind  the  night  before  Jena. 

But  Napoleon  did  not  sleep.  His  men  kept  on  march- 
ing steadily  throughout  the  night,  occupying  one  good 
position  after  the  other,  until  they  had  at  last  reached 
so  far  into  the  Prussian  rear  that  Frederick  William 
woke  up  to  find  himself  not  merely  invited  to  battle, 
but  forced  to  fight,  if  only  to  secure  his  retreat. 

Whatever  the  view  of  the  reader  may  be  as  regards 
military  genius  in  general,  I  think  we  shall  agree  that  in 
the  presence  of  so  much  ignorance,  stupidity,  and  lazi- 
ness as  characterized  the  Prussian  command  on  the  13th 
of  October,  1806,  there  are  few  average  citizen  soldiers 
who  might  not  have  achieved  undying  fame  by  com- 
manding the  French  army  of  that  day. 


YII 

THE  GREAT  PRUSSIAN  STAMPEDE  FROM  JENA  AND 
AUERSTADT 

"  The  King  of  Prussia  has  given  me  un  mnuvnis  quart  d'heure.  I  shall 
pay  it  him  back  with  interest  (mure)." — Napoleon's  language, 
uttered  in  1804. 

A  DENSE  fog  covered  the  neighborhood  of  Jena  on  the 
morning  of  October  14, 1806,  and  stretched  beyond  Auer- 
stadt, twelve  miles  away.  At  both  places  the  Prussians 
were  comfortably  asleep  when  the  cannon  of  the  French 
commenced  to  thunder.  Napoleon  commanded  in  per- 
son 50,000  men  at  Jena,  against  53,000  Prussians.  At 
Auerstadt  Marshal  Davoust  commanded  27,300  men, 
against  50,000  Prussians  under  their  King  and  old  Bruns- 
wick. The  advantage  in  point  of  numbers  lay  entirely 
with  the  Prussians — an  advantage  which  was  particu- 
larly striking  in  cavalry  and  artillery.  At  Auerstadt 
Davoust  had  only  1300  cavalry  against  the  Prussian 
8800.  He  had  only  44  pieces  of  artillery  against  the 
Prussian  230.  Towards  one  o'clock  Napoleon  was  re- 
inforced so  that  his  total  fighting  force  amounted  to 
54,000,  but  this  small  superiority  of  1000  was  outweighed 
by  Prussian  superiority  in  horses  and  artillery — the  ratio 
at  Jena  being  10,500  horses  to  the  French  8450,  and  175 
guns  to  the  French  108.  The  glory  of  the  campaign 
rests,  of  course,  with  Napoleon,  as  commander- in -chief, 
but  the  glory  of  the  day  is  Davoust's,  who  at  Auerstiidt 


44 


THE  GERMAN  STRUGGLE    FOR  LIBERTY 


fought  against  odds  far  greater  than  Napoleon's  and 
achieved  a  victory  no  less  decisive. 

Marshal  Soult  was  fortunate  in  finding  the  pastor  of 
Wenigenjena  in  bed.  He  made  him  get  up  and  show 
him  another  road  from  the  Saale  up  to  the  Jena  plateau, 
on  which  Napoleon  had  spent  the  night.  This  road  is 


MAP   SHOWING   THE    RELATION   OF   JENA   TO    PARIS   AND    BERLIN,   AND 
THE   POLITICAL   DIVISIONS  OF  1806 


quite  as  bad  as  the  one  Napoleon  used,  and  is  to-day  a 
mere  tangle  of  forest  through  which  falls  the  dry  bed  of 
a  torrent  called  the  Steinbach,  or  "  stone  beck."  Soult's 
idea,  of  course,  was  to  wedge  his  men,  if  possible,  be- 
tween the  Prussians  near  Jena  and  the  rest  near  Auer- 
stadt ;  and  he  succeeded,  thanks  to  the  fact  that  the 


THE   GREAT  PRUSSIAN   STAMPEDE  45 

Prussian  commander  did  not  suppose  that  any  troops 
would  attempt  to  come  up  this  very  rocky  and  difficult 
defile.  It  was  really  more  difficult  than  the  Steiger, 
"  climber,"  up  which  Napoleon  had  brought  his  guns. 
The  pastor  of  Wenigenjena  has  been  much  abused  by 
German  writers  for  having  betrayed  his  country  to  the 
enemy,  or,  in  other  words,  for  having  guided  Marshal 
Soult  to  the  plateau  above  Jena.  But  let  those  cast  the 
first  stone  who  are  quite  sure  that  they  would  have 
sought  the  death  of  a  martyr  under  similar  circumstances 
— a  French  pistol  under  each  ear. 

At  twenty  minutes  before  six  Napoleon  commenced 
the  fight  by  firing  away  into  the  fog,  and  feeling  his 
way  forward  among  the  sleeping  Prussians.  At  about 
seven  o'clock  the  Prussian  commander  discovered  that 
the  firing  was  in  his  rear,  and  that  they  had  gone  to 
sleep  the  night  before  with  their  encampment  facing  the 
wrong  way.  Prussia  had  some  very  unwilling  Saxon 
allies  at  this  battle.  Their  commander  came  to  head- 
quarters at  Capellendorf  after  six  o'clock  in  the  morning 
asking  for  orders.  He  was  told  that  there  would  be  no 
battle  that  day. 

Then  the  Prussian  general  who  had  drawn  his  troops 
away  from  the  Jena  plateau  on  account  of  the  cold 
night  air  thought  he  had  better  go  back  there  and  see 
what  the  firing  was  about.  He  was  soon  put  to  rout. 

At  about  eight  o'clock  Prince  Hohenlohe,  the  Prussian 
commander  at  Jena,  finally  appeared  on  the  right  wing, 
where  the  tents  were  still  up  and  the  men  not  yet  out. 
He  had  a  pleasant  chat  with  their  commander ;  said  that 
the  men  had  better  make  themselves  comfortable  in  camp 
until  the  fog  lifted ;  that  there  would  be  nothing  of  im- 
portance that  day ;  perhaps  a  bit  of  a  skirmish — that 
was  all. 


46  THE   GERMAN    STRUGGLE   FOE   LIBERTY 

Shortly  after  this  little  chat  news  came  that  the  Prus- 
sian left  wing  was  fighting  desperately.  At  some  point 
the  Prussians  gained  a  momentary  advantage  and  made 
a  handful  of  prisoners.  Hereupon  Prince  Hohenlohe 
sent  oif  a  written  message  to  the  general  commanding 
the  reserves,  in  which  he  said,  "  I  am  whipping  the 
enemy  at  every  point."  Then  up  galloped  another 
Prussian  general  to  congratulate  the  Prince  on  having 
won  a  glorious  victory  ! 

The  fact  was  that  the  Prussians  were  so  badly  led  that 
their  numerical  advantage  created  little  more  than  con- 
fusion. At  both  Jena  and  Auerstadt  their  cavalry  and 
artillery  achieved  scarcely  anything,  whereas  the  French 
used  theirs  to  excellent  effect.  The  infantry  fought  as 
well  as  could  be  expected  of  men  who  had  been  well 
drilled  but  had  no  confidence  in  their  officers.* 

By  one  o'clock  Napoleon  ordered  a  general  attack  at 
all  points,  and  by  two  the  Prussians  were  in  full  retreat 
upon  Weimar.  Capellendorf  is  on  the  way,  and  here 
the  Prussian  reserves  did  their  best  to  make  a  stand.  In 
the  midst  of  it  came  worse  news  from  the  King,  in  Auer- 
stadt, ten  miles  away,  saying  that  his  battle  was  as  good 
as  lost — to  hurry  and  help  him.  But  there  was  not  time 
to  choose.  In  half  an  hour  the  matter  was  effectually 
settled  by  the  French,  who  tumbled  the  reserves  along 
with  the  rest  head  over  heels,  and  sent  them  madly 

*  A  British  agent,  Francis  James  Jackson,  reported  to  bis  govern- 
ment that  the  spirit  of  the  Germans  marching  to  Jena  was  excellent; 
"The  Prussians  fought  with  a  courage  .  .  .  almost  without  example," 
etc. ;  that  "Hohenlohe  had  completely  defeated  the  French  and  driven 
them  back  beyond  Hof.  .  .  .  Russia  and  Austria  are  sure  to  help ;" 
and  so  pn  this  official  scribe,  writing  as  a  "  man  on  the  spot,"  sends  to 
the  British  Foreign  Oifice  statements  which  a  war  correspondent  now- 
adays would  blush  to  put  upon  the  wires.  And  yet  out  of  such  stuff 
as  this  are  many  histories  concocted. — MSS.  Record  Office, 


THE   GREAT   PRUSSIAN    STAMPEDE  47 

careering  to  "Weimar,  seven  miles  away.  They  did  fast 
running,  for  some  of  them  got  there  by  four  o'clock,  and 
there  learned  that  the  French  had  not  only  routed  the 
Prussian  army  at  Jena,  but  at  Auerstadt  as  well  ;*  that 
they  were  nearly  surrounded,  and  would  have  to  run  still 
harder  if  they  meant  to  escape. 

Towards  night  the  fugitives  from  Auerstadt  joined 
those  from  Jena.  A  panic  had  seized  them  all ;  officers 
were  brushed  aside,  knapsacks  and  muskets  were  thrown 
away,  cannon  were  left  stuck  in  the  potato-fields,  and 
the  men  hurried  off  with  only  one  desire — to  escape  a 
pursuing  enemy. 

Prince  Hohenlohe,  who  had  been  in  bed  when  the 
battle  commenced,  and  who  had  complacently  assured 
his  generals  that  the  14th  of  October  was  to  be  a  quiet 
day,  could  hardly  have  chosen  a  better  time  than  this 
for  shortening  a  life  which  had  cost  his  country  so  much 
shame  and  misery.  But  he  thought  otherwise.  At 
Weimar  he  abandoned  his  troops  to  their  fate,  and,  with 
eight  squadrons  for  the  protection  of  his  precious  per- 
son, galloped  away  in  the  darkness,  and  reached  Castle 
Villach  at  ten.  But  his  rest  here  was  spoiled  by  a  false 
alarm  of  French  cavalry,  which  caused  him  at  midnight 
to  hurry  off  once  more  in  a  westerly  direction  through 
the  darkness.  He  reached  Tennstedt  at  seven  of  the 
following  morning,  forty  -  four  kilometres  (about  thirty 
miles)  from  Weimar.  But  not  even  here  could  he  rest. 
The  French  cavalry  were  on  his  track,  and  after  a  rest 
of  one  and  a  half  hours  he  started  again,  and  reached 
Sondershausen  with  only  sixty  horsemen  left  out  of  the 
eight  squadrons  that  had  started  with  him.  He  had 

*  "  At  Auerstadt  it  required  considerable  cleverness  on  the  Prussian 
side  to  succeed  in  losing  tlie  battle — for  we  had  there  the  advantage  in 
all  things." — Boyen,  vol.  i.,  p.  197. 


48  THE   GERMAN   STRUGGLE   FOB   LIBERTY 

made  sixty  miles  in  that  flight  from  Jena,  which  shows 
that  a  general  may  develop  enormous  energy  under  the 
spur  of  fear  for  his  personal  safety.  "Would  that  he  had 
shown  but  half  so  much  before  the  battle  commenced ! 

At  Auerstadt  the  14th  of  October  brought  the  same 
fog  that  enveloped  Jena,  twelve  miles  away.  So  dense 
was  it  that  the  eagle-eyed  Bliicher  put  his  horse  at  a  row 
of  French  bayonets,  thinking  he  was  at  an  easy  hedge. 
A  volley  of  musketry  taught  him  his  mistake. 

King  Frederick  William  III.  woke  up  to  find  that  the 
French  corps  of  Davoust  had  forced  a  fight  upon  him. 
The  Prussians  fought  here  as  aimlessly  as  at  Jena.  The 
soldiers  did  as  well  as  might  have  been  expected  of  men 
who  were  kept  from  deserting  by  fear  of  flogging.  But 
the  commanders  showed  here,  as  at  Jena,  complete  igno- 
rance of  their  trade. 

It  is  almost  incredible  that  throughout  the  battle, 
when  the  King's  troops  were  at  times  less  than  five  miles 
distant  from  the  army  fighting  at  Jena,  he  never  once 
received  a  communication  to  say  even  that  a  fight  was 
in  progress.  Here  was  a  Prussian  army  of  over  one 
hundred  thousand  men  divided  into  two  parts,  neither 
part  knowing  what  the  other  was  doing. 

Towards  noon  the  King  sent  for  reinforcements 
from  Capellendorf,  which  is  half-way  between  Jena  and 
"Weimar.  He  supposed  that  the  troops  at  Jena  were 
lying  idle,  and  would  soon  arrive  and  help  drive  the 
French  from  the  field  and  make  him  master  of  the  day. 
But  the  reserves  did  not  come.  The  Prussians  blundered 
about  aimlessly,  owing  to  conflicting  orders.  The  Duke 
of  Brunswick  was  shot  in  one  eye,  the  bullet  passing  out 
through  the  other.  He  was  carried  helpless  from  the 
field,  and  the  command  devolved  upon  anybody  who 
chose  to  give  orders.  The  day  had  begun  with  no  plan; 


THE  GREAT   PRUSSIAN   STAMPEDE  49 

none  had  been  formed  during  the  fight ;  and  when  old 
Brunswick  was  carried  from  the  field  no  one  knew 
even  what  direction  the  army  should  take  in  case  they 
had  to  retire. 

The  King  was  asked  for  orders.  He  ordered  a  retreat 
upon  Weimar,  expecting  to  there  join  the  rest  of  his 
army  and  renew  the  fight  next  day.  The  retreat,  how- 
ever, soon  became  a  rout,  under  the  lively  fire  of  the 
French  sharpshooters  and  skirmishers.  Soldiers  threw 
away  all  they  carried,  and  were  soon  in  the  sweep  of  the 
mad  current  made  up  of  both  armies  converging  upon 
Weimar.  They  were,  however,  no  longer  armies — sim- 
ply mobs  of  frightened  men,  who,  some  hours  ago,  were 
masquerading  in  the  livery  of  Frederick  the  Great. 

The  King  was  the  first  to  hurry  from  the  battle-field, 
under  escort  of  some  picked  cavalry.  All  at  once  he 
was  surprised  by  a  picket  of  French  hussars,  and  had  to 
draw  his  sword  and  fight  his  way  clear  of  them  at 
the  imminent  risk  of  his  life.  It  would  have  been  the 
culmination  of  Napoleon's  triumph  on  this  day,  had  the 
Prussian  King  been  brought  to  him  as  prisoner,  along 
with  the  news  that  the  commander-in-chief  was  mortally 
wounded.  Nor  let  us  forget  that  Queen  Luise  was  also 
at  this  moment  flying  over  the  Weimar  road  out  of  the 
reach  of  the  same  enemy,  and  that  she,  too,  narrowly 
escaped  capture. 

All  night  long  rode  the  King,  chased  by  fears  of  capt- 
ure, and  totally  separated*  from  his  army.  At  seven 

*On  October  12,  1806,  Lord  Morpeth  arrived  in  Weimar  as  English 
Ambassador  to  Prussia.  Lord  Qower,  the  same  who  secured  the 
marble  bust  of  Queen  Luise,  was  subsequently  added  to  this  mission. 
These  diplomats  were  charged  to  demand  Hanover  from  Prussia,  and 
in  return  to  offer  English  aid  against  the  French.  The  mission  failed 
partly  because  the  Prussian  Minister  Haugwitz  felt  confident  of  suc- 
I.— 4 


50  THE   GERMAN   STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

on  the  following  morning  he  ventured  to  stop  for  rest 
at  the  village  of  Sommerda,  which  is  about  twenty  miles 
westward  of  Auerstadt  as  the  crow  flies,  but  must  have 
been  twice  as  far  to  them  travelling  in  the  dark  over 
an  unknown  country.  Strange  to  record,  the  Prussians 
had  no  detailed  map  of  the  region  immediately  about 
Jena. 

Sommerda  may  be  found  by  running  the  eye  north- 
ward from  a  point  half-way  between  Erfurt  and  "Weimar 
for  about  fifteen  miles.  It  is  not  a  town  that  guide- 
books notice — not  even  a  German  Baedeker.  Yet  here 
it  was  that  a  nephew  of  Frederick  the  Great  turned  to 
the  faithful  Bliicher,  who  had  stuck  to  his  King  through- 
out this  horrible  day  and  night,  and  said,  "  Let  us  con- 
gratulate ourselves  upon  having  got  out  of  the  scrape 
so  well !" 

The  two  armies  that  desperately  struggled  for  space  on 
the  road  leading  from  the  two  battle-fields  to  Weimar 
hoped  that  there,  at  least,  they  would  find  rest.  The 
generals  expected  to  find  some  arrangements  already 
made  to  defend  the  place,  give  the  broken  battalions 
a  chance  to  catch  their  breath,  and  at  least  prepare 
something  to  eat.  But  they  were  rudely  disturbed  in 
these  calculations,  and  all  night  long  under  Goethe's 
window  stormed  the  great  army  of  uniformed  tramps — 
Trsing  and  crowding ;  pushed  from  behind ;  dragging 

miselves  blindly  along  anywhere,  so  long  as  it  was 

cess"^*otk  English  assistance  ;  and  the  battle  of  Jena  did  the  rest. 
*Thejcon*lfttmdisorder  of  Prussian  affairs  is  reflected  in  a  despatch  of 
Mof^etii^to  tlk  London  Foreign  Office,  dated  Cuxhaven,  October  26, 
"The  re»ilt  of  that  disastrous  day  (Jena)  rendered  it  impossible 
foi"'me  to  ascer^in  the  route  which  his  Prussian  Majesty  intended  to 
the  pl;Sfe  of  refuge  to  which  he  might  be  ultimately  corn- 
fly  !"— MSS.  London  Record  Office. 


\ 


METTEUNICII,   AUSTRIAN   PHIME-MINISTER 

[After  the  painting  by  Sir  Thomas  Lawrence.] 


THE   GREAT   PRUSSIAN    STAMPEDE  51 

away  from  the  French  bayonets.  Out  in  the  open  coun- 
try beyond,  the  rabble  plundered  what  it  could  not  beg, 
and  caught  such  snatches  of  sleep  as  even  hunted  men 
indulge  in. 

But  on  those  two  battle-fields  the  night  was  sadder 
still.  There  had  been  a  long  day's  butchery — a  killing- 
match  between  100,000  Prussians  and  80,000  Frenchmen. 
Cannon-balls  and  musket-balls  had  scattered  over  the 
ground  for  miles  dead  bodies,  and,  worse  still,  thousands 
of  helpless  wounded.  The  French  conquerors  were  no 
worse  than  others  in  the  same  position ;  they  had  no 
time  to  waste  over  the  fallen ;  their  business  was  to  fol- 
low and  finish  the  work  of  destruction.  So  forward 
galloped  the  cavalry  ;  and  after  them  chased  the  horse- 
artillery.  Their  path  lay  straight  towards  the  flying 
enemy,  and  bad  luck  to  the  helpless  bodies  that  squirmed 
and  groaned  in  the  furrows  as  the  heavy  wheels  bumped 
and  crashed  over  the  ground !  So  ends  the  day  of  Jena. 
Whoever  wishes  to  know  more  about  it,  let  him  consult 
the  massive  and  authoritative  work  by  Lettow-Vorbeck, 
a  retired  German  colonel. 

The  lesson  of  this  day  ought  to  be  treasured  by  us  who 
believe  in  personal  liberty  and  self-government.  Here 
was  an  army  of  over  100,000  men,  all  professional  soldiers; 
led  by  a  King  whose  education  was  purely  military ;  com- 
manded by  officers  who  knew  nothing  outside  of  the  pro- 
fession of  arms.  They  fought  on  their  own  ground,  in 
defence  of  their  country  ;  they  were  superior  in  cavalry, 
artillery,  and  infantry  to  the  French.  This  army  was 
completely  defeated  by  an  enemy  which  employed  no 
novel  method  of  warfare,  which  commanded  no  source  of 
knowledge  inaccessible  to  the  Prussians.  Napoleon  con- 
ducted the  French  campaign,  but  he  achieved  his  victory 
by  acting  upon  principles  of  warfare  common  enough  in 


53  THE    GERMAN    STRUGGLE    FOE   LIBERTY 

his  time.  He  had  no  u  Napoleonic  tactics  " ;  in  fact,  he 
had  no  tactics  at  all.  His  troops  had  none  but  the  old 
drill  regulations  of  1791,  and  even  these  were  not  uni- 
formly applied.  He  let  each  general  drill  his  troops  much 
as  he  chose. 

In  fact,  the  closer  Napoleon  is  studied  the  more  do  we 
see  that  he  was  great  in  his  day  because  he  was  simple. 
When  he  determined  to  attack  Prussia  he  gathered  the 
largest  number  of  troops  together  and  marched  straight 
upon  Berlin.  He  took  care  that  his  men  were  well  fed, 
while  those  of  Prussia  were  sadly  in  want.  He  gave  his 
men  warm  cloaks  to  sleep  in  ;  the  Prussians  had  none.* 
He  kept  himself  informed  of  the  whereabouts  and  strength 
of  his  enemy ;  the  Prussians  did  not.  He  kept  his  troops 
always  in  hand,  so  that  when  he  determined  on  battle  he 
could  strike  one  hard  blow  instead  of  a  series  of  weak 
ones  ;  the  Prussians  did  just  the  reverse.  These  features 
of  Napoleon's  behavior  in  war  were  not  new  to  any  one 
of  that  day  who  kept  his  eyes  open.  But  the  Prussian 
army  was  full  of  old  men  whose  self-conceit  made  them 
blind.  The  American  war  (1776-1783)  had  demonstrated 
that  citizen  soldiers,  led  by  enterprising  men  of  practical 
sense,  were  more  than  a  match  for  the  regulars  of  the 
English  King.  Thirty  thousand  Germans  had  been  sold 
into  the  service  of  the  English  in  those  seven  years,  of 
whom  only  about  one-third  returned  from  America.  But 
these  few  were  enough  to  warn  their  fellow-countrymen 

*  In  October  and  November  of  1805  the  Prussian  army  had  ' '  neither 
overcoats  nor  waistcoats;  instead  of  which  sham  waistcoat  pockets  were 
stitched  on  to  their  jackets.  Their  breeches  were  so  tight  that  they 
burst  when  violent  movement  was  made.  Their  shoes,  '  kamascheu- 
schuhen,'  constantly  remained  sticking  in  the  mud.  Their  hats  were 
so  small  as  to  afford  no  more  protection  against  the  weather  than  their 
useless  pigtails.  This  was  the  rig  in  which  they  moved  to  war  " — to 
Jena. — Menzel,  p.  717. 


THE   GREAT    PRUSSIAN   STAMPEDE  53 

against  the  folly  of  marching  in  solid  battalions  against 
an  enemy  that  scattered  in  skirmishing  line.  The  Prus- 
sian generals  were,  however,  too  much  puffed  up  with 
professional  prejudice  to  learn  the  lesson  taught  by  the 
farmers  of  America ;  it  took  a  Jena  to  bring  that  lesson 
home.* 

The  French  learned  more  readily,  because  in  their  rev- 
olutionary armies  necessity  forced  them  to  fight  as  best 
they  could,  with  little  reference  to  parade-ground  tactics. 
Napoleon  inherited  this  French  Army  of  the  Revolution, 
and  with  it  the  fighting  methods  of  men  who  had  been 
in  America  with  Lafayette.  Napoleon  led  his  men  with 
practical  shrewdness  and  enterprise  against  obsolete  tac- 
tics and  muddle  headed  generals. 

On  the  evening  of  October  14, 1806,  the  Prussian  army, 
commanded  by  all  that  Prussia  classed  as  aristocratic, 
had  been  converted  into  a  mad  mob.  The  most  military 
state  of  Europe  suddenly  discovered  that  in  the  day  of 
trial  soldiers  alone,  even  when  led  by  officers  of  "  noble 
blood,"  are  a  poor  substitute  for  liberty-loving  citizens 
capable  of  rapid  organization. 

*  "LaPrusse  enfin  oublie  qu'elle  n'est  un  etat  que  parce  qu'elle 
etait  une  armee." — Hauterive  to  Talleyrand,  November  27, 1805  (Bail- 
leu,  ii.). 


VIII 

WHAT  SORT  OF  ARMY  FOUGHT  THE  FRENCH  AT  JENA? 

"Whatever  in  the  future  may  be  attempted  by  great  or  little  tyrants, 
they  can  never  again  succeed  in  suppressing  amongst  nations  the 
spirit  of  liberty  under  the  laws,  the  appreciation  for  constitutional 
safeguards  and  popular  representation." — Perthes,  i.,  321. 

IT  is  difficult  to  keep  in  mind  when  speaking  of  Jena  that 
Frederick  the  Great  had  been  dead  only  twenty  years ; 
that  the  leaders  of  1806  were  largely  veterans  of  Fred- 
erick's campaigns ;  that  the  Prussia  of  Jena  was  stronger 
in  area  and  population  than  the  Prussia  which  Frederick 
the  Great  controlled  ;  and  that,  finally,  no  material  alter- 
ation had  been  made  in  the  administration  of  the  army. 

Frederick  died  in  1786,  leaving  6,000,000  people  and  a 
standing  army  of  200,000  men.  The  ablest  King  of 
Prussia  was  succeeded  by  perhaps  the  least  intelligent 
of  Hohenzollerns,  who  loved  his  ease  and  allowed  the 
government  to  drift  along  according  to  the  traditions  of 
his  illustrious  predecessor.  In  spite  of  his  faults  he  in- 
creased his  territories,  his  population  to  nine  millions, 
and  his  standing  army  to  a  quarter  of  a  million.  When, 
therefore,  Frederick  William  III.  ascended  the  throne  in 
1797  he  had  abundant  means  for  solving  the  serious 
political  problems  which  arose  from  the  French  Revolu- 
tion. 

Frederick  the  Great  ruled  absolutely,  in  the  sense  that 
he  alone  held  in  his  hands  every  department  of  govern- 


WHAT    SORT    OF    ARMY    FOUGHT   THE    FRENCH    AT   JENA  t    55 

ment,  passed  upon  every  measure  himself — in  fact,  may  be 
said  to  have  had  no  cabinet  or  council  at  all,  merely  a 
body  of  very  useful  clerks.  With  a  Frederick  the  Great 
such  methods  worked  no  harm ;  on  the  contrary,  business 
of  state  moved  with  great  rapidity  and  efficiency ;  fric- 
tion was  reduced  to  the  smallest  proportions,  and  great 
economy  in  the  administration  was  the  result.  When 
there  came  to  the  throne  a  successor  who  had  every 
desire  to  rule  absolutely  but  no  capacity  to  select  his 
clerks,  the  state  then  became  exposed  to  dangers  which 
no  standing  army,  however  large,  could  possibly  avert. 

Frederick  the  Great  would  have  none  but  nobles  to  be 
his  officers ;  in  times  of  great  need  he  relaxed  the  rule, 
but  only  temporarily.  His  officers  were  strictly  for- 
bidden to  marry  non-nobles  or  to  consort  with  what  he 
refers  to  as  "  common  people  and  citizens."  His  army 
was  to  be  a  privileged  caste  into  which  few  could  pene- 
trate. Captains  who  had  served  for  ten  years  as  such, 
and  had,  into  the  bargain,  purchased  an  estate  of  noble 
proportions,  might  be  raised  to  the  rank  of  noble.  No 
wonder  that  the  military  looked  down  upon  the  plain 
people,  and  that  in  turn  the  peasants  and  citizens  of 
towns  hated  the  military.  In  fact,  after  Jena  there  are 
melancholy  proofs  that  Prussia  rejoiced  to  a  considerable 
extent,  not  that  France  had  gained  another  victory,  but 
that  the  hated  "  Yunkers"  (young  squires)  had  received 
a  check  to  their  offensive  self-conceit. 

His  wars  were  great  ones  from  the  standpoint  of  his 
monarchy,  but  by  no  means  national  in  the  sense  that 
the  American  war  was  in  1776,  or  that  of  France  against 
the  allies  in  1792.  Frederick  the  Great  made  contracts 
with  colonels  for  the  recruiting  of  whole  regiments  of 
foreigners,  and  these  regiments  were  kept  full  by  letting 
prisoners  of  war  take  the  place  of  those  who  died,  or  of 


56  THE    GEEMAN    STRUGGLE   FOE    LIBEETT 

the  still  larger  number  who  deserted.  So  large  was  the 
number  of  prisoners  who  were  made  to  fight  against 
their  own  country  people  that  the  march  of  some  of  his 
regiments  could  almost  be  compared  to  the  procession  of 
a  prison  gang.* 

In  1744  he  incorporated  with  his  army  the  troops  that 
had  fought  against  him  at  Prague ;  and  in  1756  he  did 
the  same  with  the  Saxons  whom  he  defeated  at  Pirna. 
The  year  after  he  did  the  same  thing  with  Austrians. 
His  recruiting  officers  plied  their  trade  all  over  Europe, 
with  little  regard  to  international  law,  let  alone  human- 
ity. In  1763  no  less  than  3804  Austrians  were  forced 
into  his  service.  Down  to  the  close  of  his  reign  whole 
regiments  were  made  up  of  foreigners,  although  in  1763 
he  had  attempted  to  check  the  abuse  in  a  measure  by 
insisting  that  some  part  of  the  army  at  least  should  have 
a  majority  of  native  troops ,  for  instance,  the  musqueteers, 
grenadiers,  cuirassiers,  dragoons,  and  hussars  were  par- 
ticularly designated  as  being  required  to  have  about 
one-fourth  more  Prussians  than  foreigners. 

Not  that  Frederick  thought  the  foreign  mercenaries 
fought  better  than  Prussians,  but  that  in  his  day,  with 
a  population  of  only  four  and  a  half  million,  he  did  not 
think  it  possible  to  withdraw  from  industry  more  than 
70,000,  and  he  had  to  maintain  in  the  field  160,000. 
Obviously  there  was  no  other  way  than  to  send  out  press- 
gangs  and  be  not  too  particular  as  to  whom  they  brought 
in.  He  was  careful,  however,  to  prefer,  where  possible, 
men  of  German  speech  and  Protestant  bringing-up. 

In  1806  the  term  soldier  might  mean  thief,  drunkard, 
bankrupt,  tramp — anything  you  please  except  a  citizen 

*  "  They  "  (the  soldiers  before  Jena)  "deserted  en  masse,  wholesale." 
— Luckow,  p.  61. 


WHAT    SORT   OF   ARMY   FOUGHT   THE   FRENCH   AT   JENA?     57 

of  respectability ;  and  the  laws  that  governed  him  were 
about  what  might  have  been  expected. 

Any  peasant  or  laborer,  no  matter  how  low,  was  en- 
titled to  stop  any  soldier,  ask  for  his  pass,  and,  if  it  was 
not  forthcoming,  take  him  to  the  nearest  village  and 
hand  the  case  over  for  investigation.  Being  without  a 
pass  or  refusing  to  follow  was  looked  upon  as  tanta- 
mount to  desertion.  Where  a  large  part  of  the  army 
was  living  mainly  in  the  hope  of  running  away,  where 
a  reward  for  the  capture  of  a  deserter  was  paid,  and 
where  no  love  was  lost  between  the  soldiers  and  the 
people  of  the  country,  this  rule  was  not  allowed  to  be- 
come a  dead  letter. 

When  a  soldier  actually  did  desert,  the  whole  country 
was  roused  as  though  an  invasion  was  imminent.  Alarm 
bells  were  rung,  all  roads  and  passes  were  occupied,  and 
every  boat  had  to  be  made  fast  so  that  the  fugitive 
could  not  use  it  in  escaping.  Whoever  harbored  a  de- 
serter was  hanged,  and  whoever  captured  one  was  re- 
warded to  the  extent  of  six  to  twelve  thalers,  which 
would  mean  the  wages  which  a  laborer  of  that  day 
could  earn  in  two  months. 

What  I  have  said  refers  only  to  the  pleasant  times  of 
peace.  In  war  time  such  a  thing  as  desertion  became 
more  serious,  and  there  is  hardly  a  general  order  of 
Frederick  that  does  not  refer  to  this  painful  subject. 

His  generals,  for  instance,  are  advised  not  to  camp 
near  woods,  lest  it  give  the  men  an  opportunity  to  es- 
cape; that  their  tents  must  be  frequently  inspected  at 
night;  that  hussars  must  patrol  about  camp  ready  to 
ride  down  deserters,  and  that  sharpshooters  are  to  be 
posted  in  the  fields  of  grain  in  order  to  discourage  such 
as  might  seek  to  hide  there.  Whenever  a  camp  offered 
opportunities  for  running  away,  the  cavalry  pickets  were 


58  THE   GERMAN    STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

to  be  doubled ;  men  should  not  fetch  wood  for  their  fires 
or  water  for  their  coffee  except  in  rank  formation  and 
under  proper  guard ;  straggling  must  be  severely  pun- 
ished ;  men  were  to  avoid  marching  in  the  dark ;  and 
when  it  was  necessary  to  march  through  the  woods,  hus- 
sar patrols  must  march  along  on  either  side  to  keep  an 
eye  on  would-be  deserters.  "When  a  defile  is  to  be  trav- 
ersed, officers  must  be  posted  at  either  end,  and  the  men 
counted  as  they  pass  in  and  as  they  pass  out,  so  that  a 
desertion  can  be  immediately  traced ;  and  if  it  becomes 
necessary  to  retreat,  all  information  on  the  subject  must 
be  suppressed ;  or  if  that  be  impossible,  then  the  circum- 
stances must  be  glossed  over  as  well  as  possible. 

But  Frederick  added  advice,  without  which  all  severity 
would  be  in  vain,  that  the  men  must  be  well  fed,  must 
have  plenty  of  meat,  bread,  brandy,  and  straw,  and  must 
not  be  cheated  of  their  perquisites. 

Slaves  will  work  better  for  a  good  than  a  bad  master, 
and  such  troops  as  Frederick  commanded  did  for  him 
what  they  never  accomplished  for  another. 

The  treatment  which  the  Prussian  soldier  received  is 
shocking  to  the  feelings  we  affect  to-day,  but  in  that  gen- 
eration, when  peasants,  soldiers,  and  helpless  people  were 
accustomed  to  kicks  and  cuffs,  Frederick's  army  was  any- 
thing but  disliked.  Soldiers  of  his  time  would  rather 
have  severe  treatment  under  a  victorious  flag  than  peace- 
ful times  and  no  booty  ;  and  while  desertion  was  a  com- 
mon offence,  it  was  perhaps  less  so  in  the  army  of  Fred- 
erick than  in  that  of  any  of  his  neighbors. 

Desertion  was  most  frequent  among  the  foreign 
troops,  but  not  unknown  among  the  King's  subjects; 
and  we  may  trace  this  mainly  to  the  fact  that  the  soldier 
was  treated  as  a  person  without  self-respect.  He  was 
abused  by  his  officers  not  merely  with  scandalous  epi- 


WHAT   SORT   OF  ARMY   FOUGHT   THE   FRENCH   AT   JENA  ?    59 

thets,  but  with  brutal  punishment  on  the  most  trifling 
pretext. 

Captains  of  companies  had  got  into  the  way  of  grant- 
ing leaves  to  their  men  to  the  extent  of  half  the  com- 
mand, and  by  so  doing  they  pocketed  the  money  which 
the  government  allowed  them  for  these  men's  support. 
In  this  way  a  captain's  pay  in  peace  time  was  usually 
doubled,  and  the  guard-mounting,  which  fell  to  the  indi- 
vidual soldier,  was  also  doubled.  In  war  time,  however, 
all  the  men  on  leave  had  to  come  into  the  ranks,  and  the 
captain,  whose  annual  emoluments  had  been  as  high  as 
1500  thalers,  found  himself  reduced  to  his  legal  pay 
of  only  800  thalers  at  the  very  time  that  he  needed 
money  very  much  for  his  campaign  outfit.  It  need  not 
therefore  cause  surprise  that  married  officers,  and  all  but 
the  very  young  ones,  looked  upon  a  war  with  anxiety 
rather  than  pleasure.  "What  I  have  said  of  the  captains 
applied  more  or  less  to  all  officers,  for  the  service  was 
thoroughly  demoralized  by  the  frequent  spectacle  of  men 
in  high  commands  making  private  fortunes  by  robbing 
the  military  chest  of  their  King. 

Since  1763  Prussia  had  been  disturbed  by  no  great  war, 
and  between  that  day  and  Jena  the  army  had  lost  not 
merely  its  Frederick  the  Great,  but  all  practical  military 
spirit.  A  Prussian  officer  was  deemed  accomplished  if 
he  could  move  his  men  about  with  exactness  upon  a 
parade-ground — and  no  more. 

With  the  false  sense  of  security  which  the  army  felt 
had  grown  an  amazing  fondness  for  luxurious  living,  with 
the  vices  which  such  self-indulgence  never  fails  to  en- 
courage. In  the  days  of  the  great  Frederick  his  officers 
were  wont  to  make  themselves  merry  over  the  fopperies 
of  French  officers,  and  the  useless  baggage  which  accom- 
panied them  on  the  march.  The  troops  of  Napoleon,  on 


60  THE   GERMAN    STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

the  other  hand,  were  as  much  amused  at  the  absurd  trains 
which  followed  the  headquarters  of  Frederick  William 
III.  He  himself  set  a  bad  example  by  allowing  Queen 
Luise  to  accompany  him  into  the  field.  The  old  Duke 
of  Brunswick  brought  a  French  mistress  as  part  of  his 
baggage ;  one  lieutenant  included  a  piano  as  part  of  his 
camp  furniture,  and  in  general  the  proportion  of  wheeled 
vehicles  to  fighting  force  in  1806  would  have  scandalized 
the  commander  of  the  German  army  that  marched  to 
Sedan  in  1870.  An  idea  of  the  prevailing  military  spirit 
is  afforded  us  in  an  anecdote  by  Boyen,  who  was  sub- 
sequently Minister  of  War.  Before  Jena,  a  general  offi- 
cer of  distinction  said  to  him*  "It  is  not  at  all  a  good 
thing  to  have  educated  (gebildete)  generals.  The  com- 
mander-in-chief,  and  another  to  command  the  advance 
column,  is  quite  enough.  The  rest  should  have  nothing 
to  do  but  to  pitch  in  (anbeissen)',  otherwise  there  will 
always  be  disputes." 

If  this  were  not  repeated  by  one  incapable  of  guile  it 
would  be  too  ridiculous  to  adduce  here  by  way  of  illus- 
tration ;  but  unfortunately  for  Prussia  there  is  more  than 
enough  evidence  to  show  that  this  speech  found  echo 
throughout  the  army,  and  that  the  same  men  who  flogged 
soldiers  for  having  a  button  off  their  gaiters  were  as  sin- 
cere in  believing  that  ignorance  was  the  mother  of  good 
leadership  as  that  flogging  was  the  parent  of  soldierly 
virtues. 


IX 

A  PRUSSIAN  CHRONICLE  OF  NOBLE   CRIMINALS 

Queen  Luise  to  her  brother  George,  May  28, 1807  :  "  God  knows  what 
is  to  become  of  us.  But  I  can  at  least  promise  you  that  nothing 
shall  happen  against  the  honor  of  Prussia." 

"  Germans  spoke  the  name  of  Frederick  (the  Great)  as  a  name  belong- 
ing to  every  German." — Arndt.  Oeist  der  Zeit,  p.  3. 

"  NOBLES  only,"  once  said  Frederick  the  Great,  "  possess 
in  general  the  sense  of  honor,  and  on  that  account  it  is 
important  that  we  draw  our  officers  as  much  as  possible 
from  that  class." 

How  savagely  and  how  soon  this  dictum  of  the  great 
King  was  to  be  tested,  few  in  Germany  imagined ;  least 
of  all  that  the  blame  of  Jena  should  be  traced  directly 
to  the  cowardice,  self-conceit,  indolence,  and  ignorance 
of  officers  trained  in  this  school. 

On  October  14, 1806,  the  Prussian  King  left  his  army, 
when,  if  ever,  his  presence  might  have  been  of  use.  He 
hurried  away  without  having  done  anything  to  pro- 
vide for  the  future  ;  his  commander  -  in  -  chief  was  no 
more,  and  no  one  appeared  to  know  which  way  to 
turn.  Napoleon  lost  no  time  in  recognizing  the  situation, 
and  set  off  in  such  hot  pursuit  that  within  ten  days  from 
leaving  Jena  he  was  comfortably  installed  in  the  favor- 
ite summer  residence  of  Frederick  the  Great,  at  Potsdam, 
about  fourteen  miles  out  of  Berlin,  having  traversed  about 
two  hundred  miles  of  the  best  part  of  Germany  as  agree- 


62  THE   GERMAN   STEUGGLE   FOR    LIBERTY 

ably  as  if  he  had  come  by  special  invitation  of  the  King. 
While  enjoying  the  luxuries  of  Sans  Souci,  the  name 
which  Frederick  the  Great  had  given  to  this  charming 
palace,  he  utilized  the  opportunity  of  visiting  the  church 
where  the  great  Prussian  King  lies  buried.  Strange 
thoughts  must  have  passed  through  the  Corsican's  mind 
as  he  contemplated  the  tomb  of  that  man.  What  if  Fred- 
erick the  Great  had  been  leading  Prussia  in  1806  ?  Could 
this  be  the  same  Prussia  ?  And  so  easily  conquered  ? 
For  when  Frederick  died,  Napoleon  was  already  sixteen 
years  old.  Whatever  his  philosophic  reflections  may 
have  been  at  this  time,  we  know  that  he  marked  his  ad- 
miration for  Frederick  by  stealing  a  sword  belonging  to 
that  monarch  and  sending  it  to  the  "  Invalides  "  in  Paris. 
It  was  popularly  supposed  that  Napoleon  sent  to  Paris 
Frederick's  battle-sword,  but  this  is  a  mistake.  That 
sword  had  been  saved  in  time.  Napoleon  secured  only 
a  sword  that  had  been  presented  to  Frederick  by  the 
Emperor  Paul  of  Russia. 

On  the  way  from  Jena,  Napoleon  passed  the  battle- 
field of  Rossbach,  where  in  1757  Frederick  the  Great 
and  his  Prussians,  numbering  only  22,000,  had  put  to 
flight  an  army  of  Frenchmen  and  their  allies  number- 
ing 60,000.  The  stone  commemorating  this  battle  he 
ordered  removed  to  Paris — as  though  he  could  alter  the 
historical  fact  by  shifting  the  historical  record  ! 

In  parenthesis  we  may  say  that  Napoleon,  in  his  Ger- 
man campaigns,  stole  everything  that  took  his  fancy — 
pictures,  statues,  money,  curios,  private  papers — in  short, 
was  held  back  by  no  conventional  notions  of  honesty  or 
social  decency.* 

*Lanfrey  puts   the   contribution  de  guerre  (1807)  at  601,200,000 
francs,  plus  a  large  amount  of  art  works  stolen,  which  Visconti  enu- 


NAI'OLKON   AT   Til  1C   DKSK   OK   KHKDKUICK    TIIK   OltKAT  AT   SANS   SOUCI 


A    PRUSSIAN   CHRONICLE   OF  NOBLE  CRIMINALS  63 

From  Jena  onward  through  Prussia  the  French  army 
had  a  march  almost  as  pleasant  as  that  of  their  great 
commander.  While  Napoleon  journeyed  on  a  straight 
line  towards  Potsdam  and  Berlin,  a  strong  force  went  in 
pursuit  of  the  King's  remnants.*  The  Prussians  from 
Jena  attempted  to  reach  Stettin,  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Oder.  But  the  French  had  the  shortest  road,  straight 

merates  as  follows  :  Peintures,  350  ;  manuscrits,  282 ;  statues,  50 ; 
bronzes,  192  ;  etc.— Lanfrey,  iv.,  p.  152. 

*Wben  the  "regulars"  had  run  away  they  left  Berlin  in  charge  of 
the  citizen  militia,  the  Burgergarde ;  and  here  is  an  illustration  of  the 
sort  of  stuff  that  composed  it  : 

"  Our  captain  did  not  know  what  to  do.  It  seemed  he  feared  lest 
the  French  might  take  us  for  Prussian  regulars  and  treat  us  as  ene- 
mies; and  we  were  not  in  a  position  to  defend  ourselves.  We  tried 
to  allay  his  fear,  and  succeeded  ;  for  it  was  too  ridiculous  to  think 
that  a  Burgercompagnie,  a  company  of  militia,  commonly  nicknamed 
'scrubby  shanks'  (Rnuhbeinigeii)  should  be  mistaken  for  regulars. 
More  likely  they  woulu  be  taken  for  night-watchmen. 

"But  our  captain  insisted  that  it  was  necessary  to  show  the  French- 
men military  honors  when  they  relieved  our  sentry  post,  and  we  must 
present  arms  to  them  when  they  appeared. 

"On  inquiry,  it  turned  out  that  only  one  man  knew  how  to  pre- 
sent arms— an  old  cobbler's  apprentice,  who  had  served  in  the  army. 

"On  the  approach  of  the  French  guard-mounting  troops,  our  cob- 
bler's apprentice  shouted  in  a  very  strong  voice,  to  turn  out  the  guard, 
whereupon  our  captain  tremulously  ordered  us  to  seize  our  muskets. 
The  Frenchmen,  two  companies  strong,  marched  through  the  palace 
gale  from  the  Schlossfreiheit  (west  gate),  making  a  tremendous  noise 
with  their  drums.  .  .  .  Our  captain  commanded,  '  Present  arms.' — We 
went  through  our  movement  ;  but  l>efore  we  could  complete  it  we 
were  unceremoniously  shoved  out  of  the  way  from  the  left  flnnk. 
Our  whole  company  flew  into  every  direction,  like  a  flock  of  scared 
pigeons.  The  French  took  our  places,  but  took  no  notice  whatever  of 
us.  They  seized  all  our  sentry  posts,  according  to  their  own  fancy, 
without  so  much  as  '  By  your  leave.'  Not  one  of  us  was  properly  re- 
lieved. Each  one  scampered  home  as  he  felt  like  it.  Our  captain 
shook  his  head  and  said,  '  Very  imposing,  but  not  polite  !'  " — KlOclen, 
p.  224. 


64  THE   GERMAN   STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

through  Halle,  Wittenberg,  and  Berlin.  The  poor  worn- 
out  Prussians  had  to  describe  an  arc  running  through 
Magdeburg,  Tangermiinde,  Prenzlau,  passing  Berlin  fifty 
miles  to  the  westward,  and  wearing  themselves  out  use- 
lessly in  a  desperate  race  destined  to  end  only  in  further 
disgrace. 

The  evening  of  Jena,  October  14th,  the  French  occu- 
pied Weimar — Goethe's  house  amongst  others.  Next 
day  they  went  on  to  Erfurt,  about  fourteen  miles  west- 
ward. This  town  was  a  strong  fortress,  with  a  garrison 
of  10,000  Prussian  soldiers.  A  prince  was  in  command 
here,  though  not  Prince  Hohenlohe.  The  French  ap- 
peared before  the  gates  with  a  small  detachment  of  cav- 
alry and  demanded  surrender.  The  prince  promptly  ac- 
ceded, and  on  October  16th  the  10,000  soldiers  were 
handed  over  as  prisoners  of  war,  along  with  an  immense 
amount  of  military  stores  —  for  Erfurt  had  been  origi- 
nally designated  as  the  chief  base  of  supplies  for  the 
Prussian  army. 

This  was  the  first  fortress  to  fall,  and  it  fell  without 
a  single  blow.  The  10,000  Prussians  were  rounded  up 
like  cattle,  and  marched  off  into  captivity  by  an  escort 
of  only  500  Frenchmen.  In  fact,  the  French  had  so  few 
men  at  Erfurt  that  they  could  not  even  furnish  the  nec- 
essary guard-mounting. 

The  fact  that  10,000  Prussians  could  be  tamely 
marched  out  of  Erfurt  by  this  small  number  of  conquer- 
ors argues  of  itself  a  very  scant  desire  for  liberty  on  the 
part  of  the  10,000.  But  a  plucky  young  hussar  lieuten- 
ant named  Hellwig,  a  German,  who  fancied  that  all 
Germans  dreaded  shame  more  than  death,  determined 
to  free  his  fellow-soldiers.  He  ambushed  himself  near 
Eisenach,  where  little  Martin  Luther  had  been  at 
school,  and  there,  under  the  shadow  of  the  Wartburg, 


A    PRUSSIAN   CHRONICLE   OF   NOBLE   CRIMINALS  65 

awaited  the  drove  of  prisoners  marching  by  way  of 
Gotha.  His  enterprise  was  successful,  and  he  managed 
to  convey  them  in  safety  to  the  university  town  of  Got- 
tingen,  about  fifty  miles  to  the  north,  on  the  road  to 
Hanover.  Honor  to  Hellwig  for  showing  pluck  in  a 
war  where  cowardice  ruled  in  many  high  places ! 

But  the  story  has  a  painfully  comic  end.  These  lib- 
erated Prussians  had  no  stomach  for  more  fighting.  In- 
stead of  joining  their  regiments,  they  promptly  deserted, 
each  according  to  his  fancy;  for  Gottingen  was  a  point 
beyond  the  reach  of  Prussian  drill-sergeants. 

Spandau  is  the  fortress  of  Berlin.  It  is  on  an  island 
at  the  confluence  of  the  Havel  and  Spree,  a  position 
most  difficult  to  approach,  and  so  strong  that  within  its 
walls  was  deposited  not  merely  an  enormous  mass  of 
war  material,  but  the  great  money  fund  that  was  to  pay 
for  the  first  stages  of  war.  The  Prussian  commander 
of  this  fortress  wrote  to  Frederick  William  III.,  on 
October  23d,  that  he  would  hold  out  until  there  re- 
mained nothing  but  ruins.  But  in  two  days  from  mak- 
ing this  boast  he  surrendered  without  having  fired  a 
shot.  He  preserved  enough  presence  of  mind,  however, 
to  stipulate  that  his  chicken-coops  should  be  respected. 
It  seems  incredible  to-day,  but  at  that  time,  when  the 
army  marched  to  Jena,  wagons  with  grating  at  the 
sides  and  filled  with  chickens  were  a  feature  of  the  bag- 
gage trains.  At  the  close  of  the  war  the  cowardly 
commander  was  court -martialled  and  ordered  to  be 
shot.  But  the  King  commuted  this  sentence  to  im- 
prisonment for  life. 

On  October  28th  the  same  Prince  Hohenlohe  who  had 
distinguished  himself  by  abandoning  his  troops  after 
Jena  found  himself  again  in  command  of  10,000  infan- 
try and  nearly  2000  cavalry,  near  Prenzlau,  about  thirty 


66  THE   GERMAN   STRUGGLE"    fOR 

miles  westward  of  Stettin.  Here  he  became  frightened 
by  a  handful  of  Frenchmen,  and  surrendered  the  town 
and  his  whole  command  without  even  attempting  to 
make  a  fight.  This  sent  into  French  captivity  the  fa- 
mous Foot-guards  of  Potsdam  and  Berlin — the  King's 
pet  troops.  The  surrender  lost  to  Prussia  a  valuable 
army  corps ;  but  that  was  not  all.  Other  generals  ar- 
gued to  themselves, "  Why  should  I  fight,  when  Prince 
Ilohenlohe  surrenders?"  It  was  a  cowardly  bit  of  sol- 
dier- work  which  placed  a  stain  upon  his  country.  Yet 
this  princely  poltroon  was  never  called  before  a  court- 
martial.  His  soldiers  he  surrendered  into  captivity, 
but  himself  sought  ease  at  his  country-seat  in  Si- 
lesia. 

Stettin  in  1806  was  commanded  by  a  rickety  old 
granny  of  a  general  eighty-one  years  of  age.  He  had 
under  him  a  strong  fortress,  well  supplied  with  stores 
of  all  kinds  and  5000  men,  who  wrere  rapidly  being 
added  to  by  fugitives  from  the  south.  This  town  is  a 
niost  important  strategic  point,  commanding  the  en- 
trance of  the  Oder  and  the  line  of  communication  be- 
tween the  capital  and  eastern  Prussia.  As  wre  have 
seen,  the  remnants  of  the  Jena  army  had  expected  to 
make  this  their  common  place  of  refuge. 

On  October  29th  a  French  hussar  youngster  rode 
into  the  town,  and  without  wasting  words  demanded  its 
surrender.  The  old  governor  was  so  much  taken  aback 
that  he  refused.  The  Frenchman  rode  away. 

But  no  sooner  had  he  disappeared  than  the  old  gov- 
ernor called  a  council  and  hurriedly  drew  up  papers  of 
capitulation.  While  they  were  still  at  this  work  the 
French  lieutenant  returned  with  a  flag  of  truce,  and 
was  immediately  given  a  paper  in  German,  which  he 
was  begged  to  translate  into  French.  This  paper  sur- 


A   PRUSSIAN    CHRONICLE   OF   NOBLE   CRIMINALS  67 

rendered  Stettin,  with  all  it  contained,  and  sent  more 
than  5000  Prussian  soldiers  into  captivity. 

On  October  30th  the  shameful  act  was  concluded,  in 
the  presence  of  a  few  squadrons  of  French  cavalry  and 
two  pieces  of  cannon. 

It  is  hard  to  say  whether  the  surrender  of  Stettin  was 
more  or  less  shameful  than  any  of  the  others.  In  1809 
the  governor,  who  by  that  time  had  reached  his  eighty- 
fourth  year,  was  tried  by  court-martial  and  sentenced 
to  death.  But  the  King,  no  doubt  concluding  that  he 
was  too  old  to  do  much  more  mischief,  pardoned  him 
also. 

Stettin  had  no  sooner  thrown  itself  away  than,  on 
the  day  following,  a  single  French  regiment  of  infantry 
presented  itself  before  Kiistrin,  another  great  fortress 
on  the  Oder,  about  sixty  miles  east  of  the  capital.  The 
Frenchman  coolly  demanded  the  surrender  of  this  for- 
tress, with  its  garrison  of  13,000  men  and  ninety  guns. 
The  demand  was  ridiculous  on  the  face  of  it,  but  rea- 
sonable to  such  creatures  as  commanded  Prussian  for- 
tresses at  that  time.  In  fact,  this  very  same  commander, 
strange  as  it  may  seem,  had  already  been  once  dismissed 
from  the  service  for  cowardice,  but,  stranger  still,  had 
been  reinstated  through  family  influence.  We  seem  to 
be  moving  through  a  wicked  dreamland  when  forced  to 
note  such  military  events  as  these  in  a  country  which 
a  few  years  before  was  the  envy  of  all  soldiers. 

Within  a  short  distance  to  the  northeast  of  this  town 
is  the  little  village  of  Zorndorf,  where  the  great  Fred- 
erick, with  only  30,000  men,  gained  a  splendid  victory 
over  50,000  Russians;  and  now  in  1806  the  town  itself, 
well  walled,  well  manned,  well  armed,  surrendered  to  a 
handful  of  Frenchmen,  and  all  because  the  King  of 
Prussia  had  chosen  to  make  commander  of  this  place 


68  THE   GERMAN    STRUGGLE    FOR    LIBERTY 

one  who  had  already  been  convicted  of  gross  un fitness 
for  a  post  of  any  kind. 

The  Prussian  King  and  Queen  had  been  here  shortly 
before,  had  inspected  the  place  in  person,  and  enjoined 
upon  the  commander  his  duty  to  hold  it  to  the  very 
last  extreme;  for  the  longer  the  French  could  be  de- 
layed in  their  eastward  march,  the  more  time  was 
gained  for  the  Kussian  allies  to  arrive,  and  new  regi- 
ments to  be  raised  in  those  parts  of  the  kingdom  that 
had  not  yet  suffered  by  the  war. 

The  commandant,  however,  no  sooner  heard  the 
French  summons  to  surrender  than  he  quickly  called 
the  inevitable  council,  and  urged  upon  them  the  neces- 
sity of  immediate  surrender.  The  indignant  garrison 
threw  down  their  arms  in  the  market-place — 2400  Prus- 
sian soldiers  surrendered  themselves  prisoners  of  war  to 
three  companies  of  French  infantry  within  the  walls  of 
their  own  fortress,  on  November  1,  1806.  Not  a  shot 
had  been  fired,  not  a  gun  pointed. 

This  commandant,  a  count,  was  also  tried  by  court- 
martial  after  the  war.  He  was  condemned  to  death, 
but  the  King  commuted  his  sentence  also. 

Five  fortresses  surrendered  within  two  weeks  of  Jena, 
and  so  rapidly  as  to  look  as  though  their  commanders 
were  in  French  pay.  This  is  surely  enough  for  one  sea- 
son. But  no ;  all  these  together  are  trifling  compared  to 
what  followed.  The  day  that  saw  the  handing  over  of 
Kiistrin  was  the  one  on  which  the  commander  of  Magde- 
burg swaggered  about  saying  that  he,  at  least,  would 
never  surrender  until  the  firing  got  so  hot  as  to  burn  the 
handkerchief  in  his  pocket.  This  man,  like  his  colleague 
at  Kiistrin,  had  been  once  cashiered  for  cowardice,  and 
like  him  reinstated  in  a  command  that  represented  one 
of  the  strongest  places  in  the  kingdom,  seventy -five  miles 


A    PRUSSIAN   CHRONICLE   OF    NOBLE   CRIMINALS  69 

southwesterly  of  the  capital,  and  situated  on  the  line  of 
the  invading  armies.  The  King  had  passed  through  here 
in  his  flight  from  Jena.  Magdeburg  had  at  that  time, 
as  now,  great  strength — a  garrison  of  24,000  men,  GOO 
guns,  and  enormous  supplies.  Even  if  the  King  had  de- 
cided that  Prussians  should  no  longer  fight,  but  should 
allow  themselves  to  be  stuck  like  pigs,  was  there  any  good 
reason  for  allowing  valuable  military  stores  to  go  to  the 
enemy?  Magdeburg  lies  on  the  Elbe,  in  the  centre  of 
water  communication  with  Berlin  as  well  as  the  rest  of 
north  Germany,  and  much  of  the  suffering  which  Prus- 
sia subsequently  endured  for  want  of  provisions  and 
accoutrements  and  guns  might  have  been  spared  had 
the  King  appointed  to  Magdeburg  an  honest  man  of 
affairs,  to  say  nothing  of  a  competent  officer. 

It  took  seven  months  of  most  desperate  siege  to  con- 
quer Magdeburg  in  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  and  then  it 
was  by  storm,  and  when  its  citizens  had  endured  to  the 
very  extremity.  In  180G,  not  the  citizens,  but  the  King's 
representative  handed  the  place  over,  on  the  llth  of 
November,  as  though  it  were  a  pinch  of  snuff.  This 
Prussian  commandant  was  a  most  noble  count,  seventy- 
three  years  old,  and  described  as  rather  senile.  The 
French  had  no  forces  on  hand  capable  of  besieging  the 
place;  had  not  even  brought  up  any  guns.  But  the 
venerable  aristocrat  nevertheless  called  a  council  of  war, 
and  informed  its  members  that  he  proposed  to  surrender 
the  place. 

A  German  chronicler  (Pert/)  says  that  the  nineteen 
members  of  this  military  council  aggregated  1400  years 
of  life,  which  gives  a  pretty  high  average  for  the  in- 
dividual. One  of  these  generals,  however,  who  was  only 
seventy-two  years  old,  ventured  to  remonstrate  against 
the  surrender  by  dwelling  on  the  fact  that  they  had 


70  THE   GERMAN    STRUGGLE   FOR    LIBERTY 

plenty  of  war  material,  and  could  make  a  long  fight 
of  it. 

The  commandant  promptly  called  him  to  order  in 
these  words :  "  You  are  the  youngest  one  here.  You 
will  give  your  opinion  when  it  is  asked!"  And  then 
they  proceeded  to  sign  the  contract  of  shame,  and  filed 
away  in  silence. 

Napoleon  had  a  splendid  bulletin  to  publish  on  the 
12th  of  November:  "  We  have  made  prisoner  20  generals, 
800  officers,  22,000  soldiers,  of  whom  2000  are  artillerists. 
Besides,  54  fliigs,  5  standards,  802  cannon,  1,000,000 
pounds  of  powder,  a  great  pontoon  train,  and  an  enor- 
mous amount  of  artillery  material." 

Kulmbach,  about  eight  miles  from  Baireuth,  is  no 
longer  a  fortified  place,  and  is  remembered  only  from 
the  name  on  the  label  of  beer-bottles.  In  1806,  how- 
ever, it  surrendered  to  the  French  without  firing  a  shot, 
on  November  25th. 

Hamelin,  the  same  that  behaved  so  badly  to  the  Piper, 
did  worse  things  still  on  November  21,  1806;  for  on 
that  day  it  surrendered  a  fortress,  its  garrison  of  10,000 
men,  and  a  splendid  supply  of  war  material  to  a  French- 
man who  had  under  him  but  6000  all  told.  Only  a  few 
days  before,  the  commandant  had  proclaimed  that  who- 
ever talked  of  capitulation  should  be  shot.  Among 
the  younger  officers,  who  felt  keenly  the  dastardly  char- 
acter of  his  commander's  act,  was  one  of  the  few  French- 
men who  have  succeeded  in  becoming  good  Germans— 
the  brilliant  poet  Chamisso.  He  wrote  to  a  friend  :  "  An- 
other stain  rests  upon  the  name  of  Germany  this  day ; 
it  is  consummated  ;  the  cowardly  deed  is  done ;  the  town 
has  surrendered !"  This  was  the  poet  whose  tale  of  the 
man  without  a  shadow  was  to  make  him  famous.  It  is 
needless  to  say  that  the  commandant  of  Hamelin  was 


A   PRUSSIAN   CHRONICLE   OF   NOBLE  CRIMINALS  71 

of  noble  name,  a  weak-headed  old  man  of  seventy-five. 
His  crime  was  partly  atoned  for  by  the  fact  that  nearly 
all  the  garrison  deserted  before  the  French  entered  the 
place. 

Breslau,  the  capital  of  Silesia,  one  of  the  richest  towns 
in  the  country,  and  soon  to  become  the  centre  of  a  new 
German  patriotism,  wras  surrendered  under  disgraceful 
circumstances  on  the  5th  of  January,  1807.  Near  here, 
in  1757,  the  great  Frederick,  with  33,000  men,  engaged 
and  completely  routed  an  army  of  92,000  Austrians, 
captured  over  20,000  prisoners,  134  cannon,  -iOOO  field 
wagons,  and  59  standards  —  by  this  blow  once  more 
bringing  all  of  Silesia  within  his  power.  And  men  were 
still  in  the  army  who  had  fought  under  this  commander. 

Not  far  from  Breslau,  thirty  miles  in  a  southwesterly 
direction,  lies  the  fortress  of  Schweidnitz,  that  sustained 
four  sieges  in  the  Seven  Years'  War,  and  was  eager  to 
stand  another  when  Napoleon's  men  demanded  its  sur- 
render. Its  commandant,  another  rotten  branch  of  the 
King's  tree,  was,  by  his  officers,  suspected  of  treachery, 
and  to  quiet  their  suspicions  he  bombastically  proclaimed 
that  "so  long  as  I  am  in  command  a  capitulation  is  not 
to  be  thought  of !"  On  the  next  day  he  surrendered  the 
fortress.  There  were  other  disgraceful  surrenders  dur- 
ing these  weeks  —  let  us  skip  the  rest.  It  is  a  dirty 
chronicle  of  treachery,  cowardice,  and  incapacity.  The 
American  war  of  independence  developed  one  Benedict 
Arnold  in  seven  years,  but  this  short  campaign  developed 
a  dozen  in  as  many  weeks.  If  I  have  dwelt  to  monoto- 
nous length  upon  these  shameful  surrenders,  it  is  that 
they  deserve  to  be  remembered  at  a  time  when  some  of 
the  great  military  powers  of  Europe  are  drifting  towards 
a  revival  of  aristocratic  pretensions  based  upon  the  pro- 
fession of  arms  alone.  It  is  well  to  recall  that  in  1800 


72  THE   GERMAN   STRUGGLE    FOR   LIBERTY 

the  disgrace  of  Prussia  was  brought  about  by  an  army 
officered  almost  exclusively  by  nobles.  The  most  fla- 
grant cases  of  incapacity  and  cowardice  were  those  of 
highly  placed  aristocrats  leading  the  life  of  the  profes- 
sional soldier.  This  does  not  prove  that  men  of  noble 
blood  may  not  be  worthy  soldiers,  but  it  does  warn  us 
that  pedigree  and  title  are  not  of  themselves  sufficient 
to  save  men  from  the  consequences  of  vanity,  idleness, 
self-indulgence,  ignorance,  or  any  other  of  the  many 
failings  that  undermine  character. 


A  FUGITIVE  QUEEN  OF  PRUSSIA 

"A  morn  will  dawn  upon  us, 
Bright,  balmy,  and  serene  ; 
The  pious  all  await  it, 
By  angel  hosts  'tis  seen. 
Soon  will  its  rays,  unclouded, 
On  every  German  beam  ; 
O  break,  tliou  day  of  fulness, 
Thou  day  of  freedom,  gleam  !" 

— "  8oldaten-Morgenlied,"by  Max  von  Schenkendorf ;  born  at  Tilsit, 
1784 ;  died,  1817. 

AN  honest  man  with  a  warm  heart  was  the  great 
German  physician  Hufeland.  He  was  in  Berlin  when 
the  battles  of  Jena  and  Auerstiidt  were  fought,  and 
waited  with  his  friends  for  news  of  victory.  Had  his 
King  been  as  well  provided  with  telegraphic  helio- 
graphs as  his  antagonist,  the  news  of  that  battle  would 
have  reached  Unter  den  Linden  on  the  evening  of  Octo- 
ber 14th.  But  the  capital  of  Prussia  had  worse  than  no 
news. 

Hufeland  wrote  in  his  diary  that  "on  October  16th 
Berlin  celebrated  a  victory  for  the  Prussian  army,"  and 
that  he  "spent  the  evening  with  the  philosopher  Fichte." 
This  was  two  days  after  the  battle,  and  when  the  Prus- 
sian army  had  already  ceased  to  exist. 

The  honest  physician  has  another  entry  in  his  valuable 
diary:  "On  the  18th  [of  October,  1806],  at  six  o'clock 


74  THE   GERMAN    STRUGGLE   FOE   LIBERTY 

in  the  morning,  I  was  called  by  the  Queen  to  the  palace. 
She  had  arrived  during  the  night.  I  found  her  with 
eyes  inflamed  from  tears,  hair  down  her  back — a  picture 
of  despair.  She  came  towards  me,  saying,  '  Everything 
is  lost ;  I  must  fly  with  my  children,  and  you  must  go 
with  us/  "  That  was  at  six  o'clock  in  the  morning.  At 
ten  o'clock  he  was  off  with  the  Queen,  having  had  just 
time  to  leave  final  directions  of  the  greatest  importance. 

But  Luise  had  been  allowed  no  time  either  to  pack 
up  or  even  to  collect  her  most  private  papers.  She  had 
been  stopped  when  driving  from  Weimar  to  Auerstadt 
on  the  eve  of  the  battle,  and  ordered  to  get  out  of  the 
way  to  a  safe  place.  So  back  she  drove  to  Berlin. 

On  October  14th,  an  hour  before  Napoleon's  artil- 
lery began  to  play  upon  her  husband's  sleepy  tents, 
Luise  started  again  from  "Weimar,  escorted  by  sixty 
cavalrymen.  The  roads  were  bad ;  the  Queen's  carriage 
broke  down,  and  she  abandoned  it  for  an  open  trap. 
On  the  15th  she  heard  that  her  husband  had  gained  a 
glorious  victory,  and  on  October  17th  she  reached  Berlin 
to  learn  that  her  crown  was  in  danger,  that  she  must 
not  stop,  but  fly  on  to  the  Baltic — to  Stettin. 

So  off  hurried  this  hunted  Queen  on  the  18th,  not 
being  allowed  even  one  night's  rest  after  being  thumped 
and  bumped  over  very  bad  roads  for  the  last  four  days. 
She  left  her  lady-in-waiting,  the  prim  old  Countess  Voss, 
to  hurry  up  the  packing  and  follow  on  the  19th  ;  but  the 
old  lady  was  evidently  too  much  flustered  by  the  general 
panic  to  do  much,  for  when  Napoleon  took  possession, 
five  days  later,  he  amused  himself  by  reading  the  private 
correspondence  of  the  Queen,  and  rummaging  like  a 
sneak  her  most  private  possessions.* 

*  Napoleon's  19th  Bulletin   said  of  Queen  Luise  that  she  had  a 


A    FUGITIVE   QUEEN    OF    PRUSSIA  75 

During  this  flight  from  Jena,  Luise  had  no  news 
whatever  of  her  husband  until  she  reached  Stettin,  two 
hundred  and  fifty  miles  away.  She  had  absolutely  no 
idea  of  the  general  state  of  the  country,  and  no  one  to 
Avhom  she  could  turn  for  advice. 

The  Governor  of  Berlin,*  when  he  heard  that  his 
King  had  lost  a  battle,  took  no  steps  towards  placing 
the  capital  in  a  state  of  defence.  He  discouraged  the 
people  who  attempted  to  organize ;  he  did  not  even 
seek  to  remove  the  military  stores  to  a  place  of  safety. 
The  patriots  who  felt  that  citizens  should  fight  for 
their  home  and  country  were  met  by  this  placard  upon 
all  the  walls :  "  The  citizen's  first  duty  is  to  be  quiet." 
This  was  the  governor  who  met  Queen  Luise  in  Berlin 
on  the  night  of  October  17th  and  ordered  her  to  move 
away  early  next  morning  to  Stettin.  He  too,  like  the 
cowardly  commanders  of  the  fortresses,  bore  a  high- 
sounding  name  of  patrician  origin.  Had  a  plain,  honest 
soldier  commanded  Berlin  then,  he  might  have  saved 
his  country.  He  would  have  greeted  his  Queen  with 
words  somewhat  in  this  sense  : 

"The  King  has  lost  a  battle.  What  of  that?  The 
great  Frederick  also  lost  battles  now  and  then.  Napo- 


pretty  enough  face,  but  lacked  intelligence — "assez  jolie  de  figure, 
mais  de  peu  d'esprit.  .  .  .  Tout  le  mondc  avoue  que  la  Heine  est 
I'auteur  d«-s  niaux  quo  soufTre  la  nation  prussicnne.  On  enlend  (Jin; 
partout :  Cornbicn  die  a  change  dcpuis  cette  fatale  entrevue  avcc  1'Em- 
pereur  Alexandra  !  .  .  .  On  a  trouve  duns  I'appartement  qu'habiiait 
la  Keini!  &  I'otsdam  le  portrait  de  I'Empereurde  Hussiedont  ce  prince 
lui  avail  fait  present."  Few  great  generals  have  ever  stooped  so  low 
as  this  in  the  art  of  making  war. 

*  !'••  rlin  in  1806  was  relatively  quite  as  handsome  a  capital  as  it  is 
to-day.  It.s  total  population,  including  the  garrison  of  25.000  troops, 
was  nearly  180.000.  of  whom  4382  were  French  and  805J6  Jews— the 
Jews  being  then  classed  a«  foreigners. 


76  THE   GERMAN    STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

Icon  has  only  150,000  men.  Let  us  make  a  stand  here, 
and  hold  our  ground  until  the  King  can  gather  a  new 
army.  Berlin  is  splendidly  situated  for  defence.  The 
Berliners  are  plucky  and  patriotic.  They  love  their 
Queen,  and  will  die  rather  than  hand  her  a  prisoner  to 
the  French.  The  King  has  more  than  100,000  men 
who  were  not  engaged  at  Jena ;  Napoleon  is  far  from 
his  base;  the  Russians  are  marching  to  our  assistance; 
the  winter  is  coming  on;  the  advantage  will  be  all  on 
our  side." 

Had  the  Governor  of  Berlin  spoken  in  this  spirit  to 
the  hunted  Queen,  she  would  have  responded  with  en- 
thusiasm. The  citizens  would  have  thrown  up  earth- 
works as  they  did  in  1813,  and  the  French  would  have 
received  a  check. 

But  all  over  Prussia  it  was  "  like  master,  like  man  "- 
the  King  was  weak,  his  generals  cowards.  Luise  reached 
Stettin  on  the  20th,  and  there  first  learned  that  the 
King  was  at  Kiistrin.  So  off  she  hurried  to  that  for- 
tress, almost  back  over  the  same  road  towards  Berlin. 
Thence  the  news  of  pursuit  drove  the  pair  together 
to  Danzig,  and  thence  to  Konigsberg — that  grand  old 
Prussian  city,  where  they  had  spent  days  of  proud  hap- 
piness so  very  recently. 

What  the  King  did  in  these  days,  when  energy  was 
most  needed,  we  cannot  discover,  beyond  that  he  brooded 
over  his  fate,  and  let  everything  drift.  At  Kiistrin  he 
might  have  talked  with  Hardenberg,  who  also  passed 
through  the  place,  but  no  meeting  took  place.* 

*"Tbe  confusion  is  past  all  conception  both  in  the  military  and 
every  other  department — there  really  is  a  total  disorganization  of  the 
state.  .  .  .  To  this  moment  we  are  unacquainted  who  conducts  the 
affairs  of  the  Foreign  Department  [of  Prussia]." — MS.  report  of  Con- 
sul Drusina  to  the  British  Foreign  Office. 


A   FUGITIVE   QUEEN   OF   PRUSSIA  77 

For  many  days  Luise  was  separated  from  her  chil- 
dren, but  at  last  they  were  united,  on  December  9th,  at 
Konigsberg.  Two  of  them  had  fallen  ill,  and  the  mother 
nursed  them  until  she  too  fell  ill. 

"At  last,"  wrote  Doctor  Ilufeland,  "the  savage  ty- 
phoid fever  seized  our  noble  Queen.  She  was  in  a  critical 
condition,  and  never  shall  I  forget  the  night  of  December 
22,  1806,  when  she  lay  with  her  life  in  danger.  I  was 
watching  at  her  bedside,  and  so  terrible  a  storm  was 
raging  that  one  of  the  gables  of  the  old  castle  she  in- 
habited blew  down,  and  the  ship  which  contained  all 
there  was  left  of  the  royal  treasure  had  not  yet  come  to 
port.  .  .  . 

"  Suddenly  came  the  news  that  the  French  were  ap- 
proaching. She  immediately  declared,  positively,  '  I 
would  rather  fall  by  the  hand  of  God  than  into  the 
hands  of  these  men.' 

"  And  so  on  the  5th  of  January  [1807],  in  the  coldest 
weather,  in  the  midst  of  storm  and  snow,  was  she  borne 
100  miles  along  the  strip  of  sand  [Curische  Nehrung]  to 
Memel.  We  spent  three  nights  and  three  days  on  this 
journey,  driving  at  times  through  the  surf  of  the  Baltic, 
sometimes  over  ice. 

"  Our  nights  were  spent  in  the  most  miserable  quar- 
ters. The  first  night  Queen  Luise  lay  in  a  room  with 
broken  windows.  The  snow  was  blown  in  over  her  bed. 
She  had  no  nourishing  food. 

"Never  did  a  queen  know  such  want." 

This  journey  under  the  most  favorable  conditions  of 
summer  weather  is  bad  ;  for  the  narrow  sand  strip  is  as 
bleak  and  inhospitable  as  the  desert — no  road,  no  village, 
only  a  fisherman's  cabin  now  and  then. 

Arrived  in  Memel,  they  found  that  the  King  had 
made  no  suitable  arrangements  for  her  reception,  and 


78 


THE    GERMAN    STRUGGLE    FOR   LIBERTY 


she  \v;is  curried  up-stairs  on  the  arms  of  a  servant.  She 
was  very  weak,  but  rather  better  than  otherwise  for  the 
fresh  air. 

Memel  is  the  northernmost  town  of  Germany,  a  short 
walk  from  the  Kussian  border.  Here  in  1802  she  had 
first  met  the  young  Czar  Alexander,  and  here  had  that 
gallant  young  Russian  vowed  eternal  fidelity  to  Prussia 
and  Frederick  William  III.  That  was  a  triumphal  jour- 
ney indeed,  full  of  every  incident  calculated  to  inspire  a 
monarch  with  confidence  in  himself  and  his  future. 

Poor  Luise  felt  now  what  misfortune  meant.     In  the 


MAP   SHOWING    THE   ROUTE   OF   QUEEN    LUISE's     FLIGHT   AND   THE 
TERRITORY   OVERRUN  BY   NAPOLEON    IN   THE  WINTER   OF  1806 

(From  the  author's  MS.  map,  by  special  permisnion  from  the  one  which  was  captured  froro  Napoleon  on  hie 
retreat  from  Moscow.) 


A   FCGITIVE   QUEEJf   OF   PRUSSIA  79 

town  of  Graudenz,  on  the  Vistula,  for  instance,  Luise 
and  her  husband  had  only  one  room  in  a  badly  built 
frame  house.  The  Queen  could  not  cross  the  threshold 
\vithout  being  over  her  ankles  in  mud.  AVhen  the  room 


was  being  tidied  up  for  breakfast,  the  King  had  to  go 
and  kick  his  heels  outside  somewhere  to  make  room. 
The  ministers  of  the  King  were  packed  five  in  a  room, 
with  two  beds  amongst  them.  SOUK;  slept  on  the  floor, 
each  in  his  turn.  Food  was  bad  and  scarce. 

Here  was  the  Prussian  court  a  few  weeks  after  Jena, 
while  Napoleon  was  making  himself  quite  comfortable 
in  the  palaces  of  Berlin.*  But  no  one  dared  grumble 

"  He  lived  tip  one  Might  of  stairs  in  the  pulnre,  looking  out  upon  the 
Luilgarten.     It  \\u3  the  third  window  from  the  corucr,  bo  thul  the 


80  THE   GERMAN    STRUGGLE    FOR   LIBERTY 

at  Graudenz,  for  Luise  set  them  an  example  of  cheerful 
devotion  which  no  soldier  could  resist.  Her  child  was 
ill  in  Konigsberg,  but  she  stayed  with  her  husband,  be- 
lieving that  her  presence  was  necessary  at  this  crisis. 

While  she  was  travelling  the  lonely  road  between 
Stettin  and  Kiistrin,  while  rumors  of  French  skirmishes 
were  heard  on  all  sides,  and  at  a  moment  when  the  inn- 
keepers knew  that  the  Prussian  army  had  ceased  to 
exist,  and  that  Napoleon  reigned  in  Berlin,  she  arrived 
at  a  small  relay  station  called  Barwalde.  Fresh  horses 
for  her  carriage  were  demanded  and  promised.  She 
waited,  but  no  horses  came.  Ten  minutes  became  half 
an  hour,  and  still  no  sign  of  horses.  She  must  have  re- 
called a  similar  episode  that  befell  Louis  XVI.  shortly 
before  he  was  handed  over  to  mob  justice.  Her  attend- 
ant went  to  make  inquiries,  and  discovered,  to  their 
alarm,  that  the  innkeeper  had  not  only  himself  mysteri- 
ously disappeared,  but  had  taken  the  horses  with  him. 

To  the  honor  of  Germans  be  it  recorded  that  in  all 
these  dark  days  this  is  the  only  treachery  chargeable  to 
a  man  of  the  people.  The  traitors  of  those  times  were 
almost  exclusively  cavaliers,  courtiers,  professional  sol- 
diers— the  pick  of  Prussian  aristocracy.  As  we  shall 
see  later,  Germany  found  her  strength  and  safety  in  ap- 
pealing to  the  plain  people  of  the  country,  who  did  not 
brag  about  their  blood,  but  spilled  it  freely  on  the  battle- 
field. 

The  King,  too,  had  an  opportunity,  just  before  leav- 
ing Konigsberg,  of  pondering  on  the  condition  of  crown- 
less  monarchs.  That  old  palace  was  grand  to  look  at 

Golden  Eagle  on  top  of  the  pillar  at  this  point  might  look  in  at  his 
window.  I  often  saw  him  from  below,  as  lie  paced  up  and  down  the 
room  while  he  dictated,  his  hands  behind  his  back." — Kloden,  p.  231, 
1806. 


A   FUGITIVE   QUEEN   OF   PRUSSIA  81 

from  the  outside,  but  had  not  been  properly  furnished 
within.  In  order  to  make  Queen  Luise  comfortable,  there- 
fore, the  richest  citizens  of  the  town  had  contributed 
their  furniture.  But  when  they  heard  that  the  royal 
family  were  leaving,  flying  from  the  French  advance, 
and  presumably  hurrying  away  into  a  Russian  exile, 
these  good  citizens  hastily  backed  their  carts  up  to  the 
palace  doors,  and  commenced  each  to  carry  away  his 
chairs  and  pillows.  The  King  was  still  in  the  palace, 
and  was  unwillingly  a  witness  to  this  moving  of  furni- 
ture from  under  him.  It  seemed  a  presage  of  helpless- 
ness. He  never  forgot  that  scene  in  Konigsberg.* 

While  Queen  Luise  lay  between  life  and  death  in  the 
old  Konigsberg  Castle,  on  the  1st  of  January,  1807,  the 
late  Emperor  William  entered  upon  the  year  in  which 
he  was  to  celebrate  his  tenth  birthday.  According  to 
Prussian  custom,  he  was  at  the  age  entered  as  an  officer 
in  the  crack  regiment  of  Foot-guards,  the  most  magnifi- 
cent troops  of  the  Prussian  army.  That  custom  is  rig- 
orously observed  to-day,  and  many  is  the  time  that  I 
have  seen  William  II.  in  his  childhood  vainly  trying  to 
keep  step  on  the  parade-ground  with  the  giants  whom 
he  was  commanding.  And  now  the  children  of  this 
William  II.  are  also  enrolled,  and  these  also  may  be 
seen  on  the  Potsdam  parade-ground  vainly  stretching 
their  little  legs  to  keep  in  time  with  the  long  strides  be- 
side them. 

It  was  the  grand  father  of  William  II.  to  whom,  on  Jan- 
uary 1, 1807,  was  given  the  uniform  of  the  First  Prussian 

*  "  KOnijjfiberg  was  evacuated  with  the  proatest  degree  of  precipita- 
tion. ...  It  is  impossible  to  describe  the  feebleness,  degradation,  and 
want  of  energy  which  pervade  the  whole  of  this  country."  — From 
the  report  of  Hutchinson  to  the  British  government,  January  9, 
1807.  MSS.  in  the  London  Record  Office. 
I.-6 


82  THE  GERMAN   STRUGGLE   FOR    LIBERTY 

Guards.  The  uniform  was  duly  forthcoming,  but  not 
so  the  guards.  These  glorious  four  battalions  had  been 
at  Auerstadt ;  had  been  carried  away  in  the  general 
rout ;  some  had  been  surrendered  by  Prince  Hohenlohe ; 
some  had  been  killed ;  the  bulk  had  deserted.  At 
Graudenz  on  the  2d  of  November,  1806,  all  that  re- 
mained of  the  famous  guards  reported  twenty-nine  men. 
They  had  done  much  forced  marching,  and  were  in  a 
sorry  plight  as  regards  uniforms;  many  were  as  badly 
off  as  Washington's  men  at  Valley  Forge. 

When  the  King  and  Queen*  moved  to  Memel  the 
Royal  Foot-guards  also  moved  to  what  was  called  by 
courtesy  the  seat  of  government,  the  little  frontier  town, 
whose  total  population  was  then  8000,  and  is  even  now 
less  than  20,000.  It  is  indicative  of  Frederick  William's 
character  that  at  such  a  time  even  he  felt  the  need  of 
reviewing  his  guards,  who  arrived  in  Memel  on  the  14th 
of  January,  having  increased  their  number  to  210  men, 
40  non-commissioned  and  5  officers.  Little  William 
wore  the  old-fashioned  pigtail  with  his  uniform,  as  did 
the  men,  though  orders  had  been  issued  that  this  absurd 
custom  should  cease  in  the  army.  But  it  died  hard. 
The  Prussian  guards  clung  to  their  pigtails  with  the 

*  The  original  of  the  portrait  of  Queen  Luise  given  as  the  frontis- 
piece to  this  volume  hangs  in  the  Queen  of  Hanover's  study  at  Gmiin- 
den,  in  the  Austrian  Tyrol.  It  is  the  only  portrait  in  existence  which 
represents  Luise  at  this  time  of  life  in  a  manner  corresponding  to  the 
descriptions  we  have  of  her.  There  are  two  miniatures  similar  to  this 
one  in  the  Hohenzollern  Museum  of  Berlin,  but  both  are  feeble  copies. 
This  portrait  is  considered  by  the  Queen  of  Hanover  as  the  best  one  of 
her  aunt,  and  she  vouches  for  its  authenticity.  Subsequently  Her  Maj- 
esty presented  the  author  with  a  replica  of  this  miniature,  and  it  is 
from  this  that  the  frontispiece  is  made.  It  is  probable  that  this  minia- 
ture was  painted  in  1793,  the  year  of  Luise's  engagement  to  the  Prus- 
sian King,  when  she  was  only  seventeen  years  of  age. — P.  B. 


A    FUGITIVE   QUEEN   OF   PRUSSIA  83 

spirit  of  Chinamen.  They  stuck  them  inside  of  their 
collars  on  parade,  and  evaded  cutting  them  where  pos- 
sible. 

Alexander  I.  of  Russia  also  brought  his  guards  from 
St.  Petersburg,  and  held  reviews  for  his  ally  near  the 
Memel  River,  about  Tilsit.  Here,  in  the  presence  of  his 
army,  he  warmly  embraced  the  Prussian  King,  and  cried 
out  with  solemn  force,  "  We  shall  not  fall  singly — either 
we  fall  together  or  not  at  all." 

Luise  felt  so  much  encouragement  from  the  generous 
speech  of  the  Russian  in  the  spring  days  of  1807  that 
she  moved  back  to  Konigsberg,  to  be  nearer  the  scene 
of  war.  Her  husband  went  with  Alexander  to  the  army 
headquarters  at  Bartenstein,  about  thirty  miles  south- 
ward from  Konigsberg.  Luise  devoted  herself  to  organ- 
izing relief  for  the  wounded  and  encouraging  the  spirit 
of  patriotism,  that  was  sadly  on  the  wane.  The  fiery 
Bliicher  arrived,  and  had  many  earnest  talks  with  her. 
He  had  capitulated  honorably  at  Liibeck,  because  he 
had  neither  powder  nor  bread  left.  He  had  been  sub- 
sequently exchanged  for  a  French  general,  and  had 
made  his  way  through  the  French  lines  back  to  his 
King.  He  had  been  presented  to  Napoleon,  who  had 
given  him  a  full  hour's  talking,  and  treated  him  with 
marked  distinction.  But  Bliicher  had  kept  his  bright 
eyes  open  while  amongst  the  French.  lie  knew  that, 
badly  off  as  were  the  Prussians,  the  French  were  in  no 
better  plight.  lie  begged  for  a  command  of  80,000  men, 
so  that  he  might  harass  the  Frenchmen  in  the  rear  and 
on  the  flanks.  He  would  lie  in  ambush  for  their  trains 
of  provisions,  cut  off  their  reinforcements,  worry  them 
night  and  day,  and  never  allow  them  to  light  a  big 
battle. 

But  this  most  practical  plan  of  the  gallant  old  soldier 


84  THE   GERMAN   STRUGGLE   FOK    LIBERTY 

was  brushed  aside  by  the  Russian  commander,  who 
wished  all  the  glory  for  himself,  and  expected  to  con- 
quer Napoleon  by  fighting  a  great  fight  with  overpower- 
ing: force  on  his  side. 

O 

So  Bliicher  was  once  more  relegated  to  inactivity,  as 
he  had  been  at  Auerstadt. 

At  Friedland,  about  thirty  miles  southeast  of  Konigs- 
berg,  on  the  14th  of  June,  just  eight  months  after  Jena, 
Napoleon  gave  the  finishing  blow  to  what  there  was  left 
of  Prussia.  He  knew  that  Russians  and  Prussians  were 
daily  increasing  their  armies ;  that  every  moment  was 
precious;  that  his  long  line  of  communication,  which 
was  about  four  hundred  miles  to  Dresden,  invited  opera- 
tions in  his  rear;  that  his  troops  were  beginning  to 
grumble.  He  therefore  determined  to  collect  all  the 
men  he  could,  to  abandon  his  line  of  retreat,  to  march 
straight  upon  Konigsberg,  and  to  force  a  battle  at  any 
cost. 

The  Russian  commander,  Benigsen,  blundered  into 
Napoleon's  trap,  and  before  the  day  was  over  Napoleon 
had  come  to  believe  that  his  star  led  to  success,  no  mat- 
ter how  great  risk  he  incurred. 

Again  Luise  had  to  pack  up  hastily,  and  fly  for  her 
life  back  to  Memel.*  On  June  IGth  Konigsberg  sur- 
rendered, and  the  small  remnants  of  the  Prussian  army 
retired  to  the  other  side  of  the  Memel  River,  wondering 
where  they  should  retire  to  next  in  case  of  another  bat- 

*  On  June  19,  1807,  the  British  Consul,  Lewis  de  Drusina, reports  to 
Canning  that  he  fled  from  KOnigsberg  to  Memel  on  the  14th,  the 
French  entering  on  the  15th.  "  On  my  arrival  here  I  found  the  whole 
place  in  the  greatest  alarm,  all  preparing  for  a  flight  to  Russia,  and  the 
younger  branches  of  the  royal  family  going  forward  to  Libau,  etc." — 
London  Record  Office  MSS. 

Strange  that  in  none  of  the  reports  of  British  officials  are  any  details 
of  Luise's  horrible  journey  from  Konigsberg  to  Memel. — P.  B. 


IS 

r  g 


•§  2 

ib 

=•  o 
»   > 

*  2 


A   FUGITIVE    QUEEN    OF   PRUSSIA  85 

tie ;  for  they  had  arrived  at  the  last  piece  of  Prussian 
ground  capable  of  holding  them — a  strip  only  about  fif- 
teen miles  wide,  from  the  river  to  the  Russian  border. 

The  King  and  Czar  were  like  brothers  in  those  days, 
but  their  subjects  did  not  fraternize  well.  On  the  re- 
treat from  Friedland  to  Tilsit,  Prussian  soldiers  desert- 
ed wherever  they  could,  because  they  feared  that  they 
might  be  incorporated  into  the  Russian  army.  The 
Russian  Cossacks  had  not  left  a  pleasant  impression  in 
Prussia.  They  plundered  the  peasants,  insulted  the 
women,  drove  away  cattle  and  horses,  but  did  very  little 
fighting.  It  got  to  be  proverbial  that  the  French  enemy 
was  preferable  to  the  Russian  friend.* 

On  June  19th  the  French  tricolor  waved  on  the  banks 
of  the  Memel,  and  Napoleon  could  see  beyond  the  united 
camps  of  Russia  and  Prussia.  At  Jena  he  had  defeated 
Prussia ;  at  Friedland,  Russia.  Frederick  William  would 
have  made  peace  after  Jena  had  he  not  given  his  word 
to  Alexander  that  he  would  stand  or  fall  with  his  Rus- 
sian ally.  This  alone  explains  why  throughout  that 
dreary  winter  the  Prussian  army  kept  up  a  semblance 
of  hope — fighting  and  marching,  starving  and  shivering 
—believing  that  the  Russians  would  soon  arrive  in  strong 
force  and  drive  Napoleon  away. 

The  net  result  of  Russian  assistance  was  the  battle  of 
Friedland,  which  left  Prussia  in  a  worse  plight  than 
after  Jena. 

Queen  Luise  thus  writes  to  her  father  three  days  after 
this  battle: 

*  "  Between  the  pillage  of  the  Russians  and  the  ravages  of  the 
French,  nearly  the  whole  of  the  Prussian  slates  east  of  the  Vistula  is 
in  most  lamentable  condition — houses  destroyed,  people  driven  away." 
— Hutchiuson's  despatch  to  the  British  government,  January  !JO,  1807. 
MS8. 


86  THE   GERMAN   STRUGGLE    FOR   LIBERTY 

"  Another  terrible  blow  has  struck  us  ;  we  are  on  the 
point  of  leaving  the  country — perhaps  forever.  Just 
think  what  I  am  feeling  at  this  moment!  .  .  .  The  chil- 
dren and  I  must  fly  as  soon  as  we  get  news  of  approach- 
ing danger.  .  .  .  When  the  moment  of  danger  comes  I 
shall  go  to  Riga  "  (a  Russian  town  on  the  Baltic).  "  God 
will  give  me  strength  when  the  black  moment  arrives 
for  me  to  cross  the  frontier  of  my  country.  It  will  take 
strength,  but  I  look  up  to  Heaven,  whence  come  all  good 
and  ill ;  and  I  firmly  believe  that  God  places  upon  us 
burdens  no  greater  than  we  can  bear. 

"  Once  more,  my  best  of  fathers,  be  assured  we  are 
going  down  without  dishonor,  esteemed  by  all  the  world  ; 
and  we  shall  always  have  friends,  because  we  have  de- 
served them.  I  cannot  tell  you  how  much  comfort  this 
thought  gives  me.  I  bear  everything  with  perfect  tran- 
quillity of  mind,  which  can  only  come  from  a  quiet  con- 
science and  pure  hopes.  You  may  be  sure,  then,  dear- 
est father,  that  we  can  never,  never  be  altogether  un- 
happy, and  that  many  a  one  weighed  down  with  crowns 
and  good  fortune  is  not  so  light-hearted,  so  really  happ}r, 
as  we  ourselves."  (No  doubt  a  hit  at  Napoleon's  many 
crowns.) 

A  postscript  to  this  letter,  dated  June  24th,  after  the 
Russians  had  signed  a  truce  with  Napoleon,  contains 
these  prophetic  words :  "  My  faith  is  not  shaken — but  I 
can  no  longer  hope.  My  letter  to  you  explains  it — there 
is  my  very  heart  and  soul.  When  you  read  that,  you 
have  me  entirely,  dearest  father.  To  do  my  duty  in  life, 
to  die,  to  live  on  dry  bread  and  salt  —  none  of  these 
things  can  make  me  unhappy.  But  do  not  ask  me  to  be 
hopeful.  One  who  has  been  thrown  down  from  a  heaven 
— as  I  have  been — cannot  again  feel  hope.  If  anything 
good  again  happens  to  me,  ah,  how  eagerly  shall  I  seize 


A    FUGITIVE   QUEEN    OF   PRUSSIA  87 

it,  feel  it,  enjoy  it !  but  I  can  never  hope  again.  Let 
misfortune  come ;  for  a  moment  it  may  cause  me  sur- 
prise, but  it  can  no  longer  break  me  down,  so  long  as  I 
have  not  deserved  it.  Nothing  can  drag  me  into  my 
grave  but  injustice  and  dishonesty  amongst  my  own  peo- 
ple— that  I  could  not  stand.  .  .  ." 

Poor  Luise!  She  poured  out  her  bleeding  heart  in 
those  sad  days  as  queens  seldom  do.  She  had  suffered 
much — had  been  chased  from  one  end  of  her  country  to 
the  other ;  had  endured  a  terrible  illness ;  had  been 
separated  from  her  beloved  children  while  illness  was 
amongst  them ;  had  been  the  cheering  help  to  her  low- 
spirited  husband ;  had  united  the  patriotic  men  of  Ger- 
many about  her  —  and  all  because  she  believed  that 
Alexander  with  his  Russians  would  take  the  field  in 
the  spring,  and  would  not  make  peace  until  Prussia 
was  free. 

Luise  had  suffered  much  between  Jena  and  Fried- 
land,  but  there  was  more  suffering  in  store  for  her  at 
Tilsit. 


XI 

PEACE  WITH   DISHONOR 

O  Deutschland,  holy  fatherland  ! 

Thy  faith  and  love  how  true  ! 
Thou  noble  land  !    Thou  lovely  land  ! 

We  swear  to  thee  anew. 
Our  country's  ban  for  knave  and  slave  ! 

Be  they  the  raven's  food  ! 
To  Freedom's  battle  march  the  brave  ! 

Tis  fell  revenge  we  brood." 

— Ernst  Moritz  Arndt,  from  the  "  Vaterlandslied." 

ONE  date  of  peculiarly  American  significance  is  July  4, 
1776.  Queen  Luise  was  born  in  the  same  year  as  the 
United  States,  and  it  was  on  the  day  of  "  independence," 
1807,  that  she  drove  from  Memel  to  Tilsit  for  the  pur- 
pose of  pleading  with  Napoleon  on  behalf  of  her 
wretched  country. 

Luise*  hated  the  Corsican  conqueror  with  the  instinc- 
tive impulse  of  a  high-bred,  pure,  and  truthful  nature. 
She  knew  him  to  be  both  false  and  brutish.  He  had 
shown  no  generosity  in  the  moment  of  victory,  but  had 
stooped  to  the  publishing  of  lies  about  her  private  char- 
acter. He  pictured  her  in  his  bulletins  as  not  merely 
an  Amazon  firebrand,  but  as  unfaithful  to  her  marriage 
vows — a  woman  of  unchaste  character.  He  suggested 

*  Pasquier,  in  his  Memoires,  speaks  of  her  as  ".  .  .  La  Reine  autour 
de  laquelle  vinrent  se  ranger  presque  tous  les  hommes  distingues  et 
importants  du  pays  " — a  compliment  never  paid  to  her  husband.  I. ,  211. 


PEACE   WITH   DISHONOR  89 

improper  relations  between  the  Czar  Alexander  and  her- 
self— he  stopped  at  nothing  in  his  attempt  to  blacken 
her  character  and  weaken  if  possible  her  influence.  But 
Napoleon*  was  no  match  for  a  pure  woman.  He  over- 
shot the  mark.f  His  slanders  failed  in  their  effect  on 
the  Germans,  who  did  not  forgive  this  unchivalrous  be- 
havior towards  a  queen  whom  they  loved  for  the  very 
virtues  which  he  could  not  comprehend. 

When  Queen  Luise  heard  that  she  must  come  to  this 
man,  beg  of  him,  touch  his  hand — it  was  more  than  she 
could  bear.  She  burst  out  crying,  and  said  she  could  not 
so  dishonor  herself.  But,  after  all,  it  was  the  King,  her 
husband,  who  should  have  felt  thus,  and  spared  her  this 
crowning  mortification.  Up  to  this  moment  he  might 
have  said  that  all  was  lost  save  honor;  but  when  the 
moment  came  for  dragging  a  beautiful  young  wife  upon 
the  scene,  in  the  hope  of  accomplishing  by  her  physical 
charms  what  gunpowder  and  diplomacy  had  failed  of 
attaining,  then  should  the  hand  of  every  decent  man 
have  been  raised  in  protest. 

To  the  credit  of  human  nature  be  it  said  that  in  each 
of  the  three  camps  were  men  who  did  find  this  episode 
disgraceful.  And  so  on  this  beautiful  4th  of  July  Luise 
and  old  Countess  Voss  took  their  seats  in  a  state  car- 
riage, and  were  driven  the  fifty -odd  miles  to  a  little 
village  about  six  miles  northeast  of  Tilsit,  called  Piktu- 

*  Napoleon,  it  will  be  remembered,  hud  been  spending  the  winter 
with  a  Polish  mistress. 

f  Talleyrand,  speaking  of  Queen  Luise  at  Tilsit,  said  (i.,  315)  :  "Les 
effort*  que  fit  cette  noble  femme  reshVent  imitilcs  pres  dc  Napoleon  ; 
il  triomphait  et  alors  il  etait  inflexible.  Leg  engagements  qu'il  avait 
fait  rompre,  et  ceux  qu'il  avait  fiiit  premlre,  1'avntfnt  enivre.  II  w> 
plaisail  uuHsi  a  croire  que,  de  1'Empereur  de  HiiHsie,  il  avail  fait  une 
dupe  ;  mais  le  temps  a  prouvu  que  la  veritable  dupe,  c'elait  lui- 
mCrae." 


90  THE  GERMAN   STRUGGLE   FOE   LIBERTY 

poenen,  where  a  room  had  been  made  ready  for  her  in 
the  parsonage.  Her  carriage  had  been  drawn  by  relays 
of  black  horses  from  the  famous  stud  farm  of  Trakehnen, 
where  even  to-day  all  the  horses  for  the  German  Em- 
peror are  raised.  That  any  Trakehnen  horses  escaped 
the  raids  of  the  enemy  during  this  campaign  is  in  itself 
remarkable,  for  the  estate  is  only  about  forty  miles 
southeast  of  Tilsit. 

"When  I  visited  the  village  of  Piktupoenen  I  could  find 
no  trace  of  the  historical  events  that  had  happened  there. 
The  parsonage  had  been  burned  down,  and  a  new  one 
erected  in  its  place.  A  great  windmill  dominated  the 
cluster  of  houses,  from  the  roofs  of  which  one  could  look 
over  into  Russian  territory. 

Luise  travelled  through  a  pretty  country,  but  over 
roads  of  primitive  construction,  for  she  required  all  day 
for  these  few  fifty  miles.  She  had  time  to  think  over 
the  part  she  was  called  upon  to  play,  and  to  recall  the 
part  played  by  the  professedly  dear  friend  and  ally  Alex- 
ander. Luise  had  been  kept  well  informed  of  the  doings 
of  this  showy  and  sentimental  young  Russian,  and  she 
grew  to  distrust  him  as  much  as  she  disliked  Napoleon.* 

*  Pasquier  (i.,  304  and  833)  refers  to  the  Russian  Czar's  behavior 
towards  Frederick  William  in  1807  and  1808  as  that  of  a  traitor  and 
thief  ;  interested  in  the  "  depouille  de  1'allie"— "  the  plundering  of  his 
ally." 

From  the  Letters  of  Lady  Burghersh,  London,  1893  : 

"FBANKFT.,  December  3, 1813. 

"I  never  was  so  disappointed  as  in  the  Emperor  Alexander.  He  is 

the  image  of ,  only  fair  instead  of  red,  and  also  very  like  W. ,  the 

dentist.  He  has  certainly  fine  shoulders,  but  beyond  that  he  is  horri- 
bly ill-made.  He  holds  himself  bent  quite  forward,  for  which  reason 
all  his  court  imitate  him  and  bend  too,  and  gird  in  their  waists  like 
women.  His  countenance  is  not  bad,  and  that  is  all  I  can  say." 

A  few  days  later  she  writes  :  "  I  can't  think  him  handsome,  and  his 
voice  is  rough  and  disagreeable." 


KUKUKJUCK   WILLIAM    III.  WUTI.NC   FuH   TIIK  KSU  OK  TIIK   CON- 
KKKI.NCK   ON    TIIK    HAFT 


PEACE   WITH    DISHONOR  91 

She  recalled  the  night  of  the  4th  of  November,  1805. 
The  chimes  in  the  old  Garrison  Church  of  Potsdam  were 
singing  their  beautiful  midnight  tune  when  Alexander 
stood  with  her  husband  and  herself  by  the  tomb  of 
Frederick  the  Great.  They  remained  some  moments  in 
silence,  while  Alexander  bowed  and  kissed  the  marble 
on  which  reposed  the  battle-sword  of  the  great  King. 
Then  he  rose,  embraced  the  Prussian  monarch,  and  there 
vowed  that  the  Prussian  cause  was  his  cause  while  life 
lasted.  Then  he  drove  away  to  Austerlitz ! 

She  recalled  next  the  dreadful  winter  months — the 
chasing  from  town  to  town,  finding  nowhere  rest  for  her 
feet.  In  these  days  she  sustained  her  husband's  hopes 
by  referring  him  to  Alexander's  noble  promises,  which 
were  repeated  by  every  messenger  from  St.  Petersburg. 

Then  she  recalled  the  little  town  of  Bartenstein,  about 
thirty  miles  southeast  of  Konigsberg.  How  happy  she 
had  been  when,  at  one  time,  the  King  had  been  on  the 
point  of  concluding  a  separate  peace  with  Napoleon,  but 
had  received  a  note  from  the  Czar  saying  that  he  would 

*•          o 

risk  his  crown  rather  than  that  Prussia  should  lose  one 
grain  of  her  national  sand  ! 

In  the  presence  of  such  noble  sentiments  every  Prus- 
sian sacrifice  seeinod  justified. 

Then  she  recalled  the  touching  mooting  of  Alexander 
and  her  husband,  and  a  certain  noble  contract  signed  at 
Bartenstein  on  April  520,  ISO 7,  in  which  each  bound  him- 
self to  do  nothing  without  the  other;  to  inako  no  terms 
with  Napoleon  without  the  other's  knowledge — in  other 
words,  to  make  the  war  one  of  brotherly  interest. 

In  this  famous  Hartonstoin  (, 'on tract,  made  at  a  timo 
when  the  Prussian  King  had  scarcely  a  kingdom,  let 
alone  an  army,  the  Prime-Minister  Harden  berg  intro- 
duced a  clause  that  gave  Luiso  great  satisfaction.  Here 


92  THE   GERMAN   STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

was  first  formally  stated  that  Prussia  was  fighting  the 
common  enemy  of  all  Germany ;  that  the  victory  of 
Prussia  meant  the  independence  of  Germany,  the  foun 
dation  of  a  great  German  "  Constitutional  Federation." 

That  all  seemed  very  shadowy  to  Luise  as  she  drove 
by  the  flower-studded  fields  of  East  Prussia.  There  was 
no  thought  of  such  possibilities  in  her  weary  spirit. 
She  knew  that  Napoleon  had  taken  the  half  of  Prussia 
for  his  share  of  the  war  spoils.  She  did  not  expect  that 
he  would  give  back  much  of  it ;  but,  as  she  said,  pathet- 
ically, "  If  he  will  give  me  back  a  village  or  two  my 
errand  will  not  have  been  in  vain." 

But  then  she  reviewed  what  had  happened  at  Tilsit 
since  the  truce.  Her  husband  had  not  been  consulted. 
On  June  25th  Napoleon  entered  a  skiff  on  the  south 
side  of  the  Memel  River,  and  Alexander  at  the  same 
moment  pushed  off  from  the  north  shore.  They  met 
on  a  raft  that  had  been  anchored  in  the  stream  at  a 
point  close  above  the  present  bridge.  On  this  raft 
two  huts  had  been  erected,  decked  out  with  boughs 
and  flowers.* 

The  Prussian  King  was  not  asked  to  this  meeting  on 
the  raft.  He  was  treated  as  quite  an  outsider  to  the 
interests  at  stake.  The  two  emperors  were  on  his  land  ; 
they  had  made  a  truce,  and  apparently  set  about  making 
a  peace  wholly  at  Prussian  expense.f 

*  T  made  a  sketch  of  the  river  at  this  point  one  beautiful  summer's 
afternoon,  and  have  seen  many  pictures  purporting  to  represent  the 
nit'etiug  of  these  two  emperors.  But  not  only  do  no  two  pictures 
agree  one  with  the  other,  but  none  gives  the  local  scenery  as  it  is 
to-day. 

f  "  Voici  la  limite  entre  les  deux  empires, "  said  Napoleon,  point- 
ing to  the  Weichsel.  "Votre  maitre  doit  dominer  d'un  c6te,  moi 
de  1'autre  !" — Words  spoken  before  Tilsit  treaty  to  Lobanoff ;  pre- 
served by  Bantysch-Kamensky,  and  published  by  him  in  1839. 


PEACE   WITH    DISHONOR  93 

It  was  raining  while  this  interesting  raft  meeting 
took  place.  During  the  ruin  Frederick  William  rode 
up  and  down  the  north  shore  of  the  river,  impatiently 
waiting  for  its  conclusion.  But  the  minutes  dragged, 
and  full  three  hours  passed  before  the  King  saw  his 
noble  ally  again. 

Two  days  before  this  raft  meeting  news  had  come 
from  London  that  England  had  already  shipped  troops 
to  Prussia's  assistance ;  that  plenty  of  arms,  ammunition, 
and  money  were  also  on  the  way.*  From  Austria  came 
also  good  news,  that  thence,  too,  help  would  soon  arrive. 
Naturally  Luise  looked  to  Alexander  as  in  a  position  to 
make  good  some  of  the  promises  he  had  so  sentimentally 
expressed  over  and  over  again  in  the  past  few  weeks. 

His  first  words  on  seeing  the  French  Emperor  were, 
"  I  hate  the  English  as  heartily  as  you  do,  and  am  ready 
to  help  you  in  everything  you  undertake  against  them." 
This  is  strange  language  to  use  in  regard  to  one's  allies. 
However,  for  the  moment  it  seemed  to  serve  the  Rus- 
sian's purpose. 

Napoleon  and  Alexander  from  this  moment  became 
bosom  friends.  They  dined  and  supped  together.  They 
were  inseparable.  They  talked  about  the  past  war  as  a 

•Already,  on  May  16.  1807,  Lord  Castlereagh  writes  to  Lieutenant 
General  Lord  Htitchinson.  the  special  British  agent  in  Prussia,  that 
England  has  shipped  10,000  muskets  to  Colberg,  also  8,000.000  ball 
cartridges,  100,000  flints,  and  some  artillery.  This  is  soon  to  be  fol- 
lowed by  800, 000  flints,  5000  barrels  of  powder,  5000  sabres,  and  imny 
other  things.  On  June  Dili,  Lord  Hiitchinson  reported  that  he  had 
paid  £80,000  to  Russia  and  £100,000  to  Prussia  by  way  of  subsidy. 
On  Dwembcr  23,  1806,  Hutchinson  made  a  report  which  only  reached 
London  on  January  31,  1807.  In  it  he  quotes  a  Prussian  minister  as 
Raying  that  Prussia  disliked  the  idea  of  Austrian  assistance  ngainst 
Napoleon,  upon  which  the  Englishman  makes  the  reflection  that  Prus- 
sia had  sunk  to  the  condition  of  a  petty  state,  still  propped  up  in  a 
measure  by  Russia  and  England.— London  Public  Record  Office  M8S. 


94  THE    GERMAN    STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

blunder,  and  for  the  future  made  plans  which  knew  no 
limit  save  that  enforced  bv  limited  imagination.  Russia 

«/  o 

was  to  conquer  all  the  East ;  Napoleon  was  to  remain 
content  with  all  the  rest  of  the  world.  Exactly  where 
the  East  was  to  commence  and  the  rest  of  the  world  to 
cease  was  not  quite  definitely  stated,  and  this  caused 
much  trouble  in  the  years  that  followed,  because  Russia 
then  as  now  regarded  Turkey  as  her  legitimate  prey. 
At  any  rate,  one  point  was  very  satisfactorily  arranged 
—that  Russia  should  take  possession  of  British  India  as 
soon  as  she  found  it  convenient. 

Three  hours  are  a  long  time  for  two  men  to  talk  under 
ordinary  circumstances,  but  when  the  whole  world  is 
being  mapped  out  anew  it  is  very  short  indeed.  And  so 
Alexander  thought,  for  he  quite  forgot  all  about  Prussia 
while  arranging  for  the  incorporation  of  India  as  a 
southern  province  of  Siberia.* 

At  last,  and  as  a  species  of  after-thought,  he  begged 
as  a  favor  that  he  might  present  to  Napoleon  his  dear 

*  "  L'Empereur  Alexandre  .  .  .  crut  avoir  rempli  tous  les  devoirs  de 
1'ainitie  envers  le  Roi  de  Prusse,  en  lui  conservant  nominalement  la 
moitie  de  son  royaume  ;  apres  quoi  il  partit,  sans  mgme  prendre  la 
precaution  de  s'assurer  si  la  moitie  que  le  roi  devait  conserver  lui 
serait  promptement  rendue,  si  elle  le  serait  pleinement,  et  s'il  ne 
serait  pas  oblige  de  la  racheter  encore  par  de  nouveaux  sacrifices. 

"  On  pouvait  le  craindre  apres  la  question  brutale  que  Napoleon  fit 
un  jour  a  la  Reine  de  Prusse  : 

"  '  Comment  avez-vous  ose  me  faire  la  guerre,  madame,  avec  d'aussi 
faibles  moyeus  que  ceux  que  vous  aviez  ?' 

"  'Sire,  je  dois  le  dire  d  votre  Ma  jest  e,  la  gloire  de  Frederic  II. 
nous  avait  egares  sur  notre  prop  re  puissance.' 

"  Ce  mot  de  gloire,  si  heureusemeut  place,  et  £  Tilsit  dans  le  salon 
de  1'Empereur  Napoleon,  me  parut  superbe.  .  .  . 

"J'etais  iudigne  de  tout  ce  que  je  voyais,  de  tout  ce  que  j'entendais, 
mais  j'etais  oblige  de  cacher  mon  indignation."—  Memoires  de  Talley- 
rand, i.,  p.  316. 


PEACE   WITH   DISHONOR  95 

friend  Frederick  "William.  This  interview  took  place  on 
the  day  following,  and  on  the  same  raft.  Napoleon  treat- 
ed the  humiliated  King  with  most  conspicuous  rude- 
ness ;  acted  towards  him  as  to  one  asking  charity  ;  gave 
him  less  than  an  hour  of  his  time,  during  which  he  ad- 
dressed his  remarks  almost  wholly  to  Alexander.  Poor 
Frederick  William  was  permitted  to  be  present  at  some 
of  the  imperial  interviews,  but  always  in  the  character 
of  an  interloper.  Alexander  was  never  at  his  ease  until 
his  Prussian  ally  had  left  them. 

The  Russian  so  far  forgot  his  relations  to  both  parties 
that  he  listened  contentedly  while  Napoleon  joked  about 
the  "  Brandenburg  Don  Quixote."  The  King  reminded 
Alexander  now  and  then  of  the  famous  Bartenstein 
Contract,  but  the  Muscovite  answered  always  with 
plausible  evasions.  lie  was  just  as  false  as  Napoleon, 
but  masked  his  Oriental  qualities  by  a  pretension  to 
sentimental  chivalry  which  deceived  many  for  a  short 
time. 

Luise  was  met  on  the  road  to  Tilsit  by  Hardenberg,  of 
whom  we  shall  hear  more  in  coming  years.  Napoleon 
knew  nothing  of  this  statesman  save  that  he  was  anti- 
French.  Consequently  he  ordered  Hardenberg  to  be 
dismissed  from  the  King's  service,  and  exiled  to  a  dis- 
tance of  two  hundred  miles  from  the  capital,  whatever 
place  that  might  be.  That  Napoleon  should  give  such 
an  order  is  strange  enough,  but  that  a  monarch  should 
fail  to  resent  it  is  stranger  still.*  The  chivalrous  Alex- 

*  The  British  agent  in  Mcmel  reported,  under  date  September  25, 
1807,  that  after  tlie  French  had  evacuated  KOnlgsberg  some  weeks, 
"nn  actor  in  a  military  character  of  a  (terman  piny  translated  from  the, 
French  "  wore  the  French  Legion  of  Honor.  Koine  Prussian  officers 
in  the  audience  hissed  tin-  actor  off  tin:  staire.  The  uniform  was 
and  the  play  went  on.  The  nffair  was  chronicled  to  Paris. 


96  THE   GERMAN   STRUGGLE   FOR    LIBERTY 

ander  did  not  protest,  and  Hardenberg  sought  refuge  in 
Russia.  But  before  he  went  he  had  a  good  long  talk 
with  Luise,  and  gave  her  such  a  picture  of  the  true 
state  of  things  that  she  was  able  to  meet  Napoleon  on 
less  unequal  terms  than  might  otherwise  have  been  the 
case. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  Luise  wrote  of  Napoleon : 
"  His  talents  I  can  admire,  but  I  do  not  like  his  char- 
acter, which  is  obviously  false  and  tricky.  It  will  be 
hard  for  me  to  behave  well  in  his  presence.  And  yet 
that  is  what  they  ask  of  me — and  I  have  grown  used  to 
making  a  sacrifice  of  myself." 

Napoleon  did  not  pay  Luise  the  compliment  of  taking 
the  short  half-hour's  drive  to  Piktupoenen,  but  waited 
until  she  came  into  Tilsit.  Then,  after  she  had  been  an 
hour  in  her  rooms,  he  rode  up  in  state,  surrounded  by 
a  staff  of  high  officers,  and  climbed  the  narrow  stairs 
leading  to  her  room. 

The  house  in  which  she  received  Napoleon  still  stands, 

Charapigny  sent  for  the  Prussian  minister,  told  him  Napoleon  felt 
insulted  ;  that  all  diplomatic  relations  would  be  stopped,  and  Prussia 
not  be  evacuated  until  satisfaction  given.  Two  Prussian  officers  had 
been  mentioned — these  must  be  shot. 

Couut  Goltz  told  this  story  to  the  British  agent,  and  said  that  nothing 
less  than  a  fusillade,  and  that  in  peremptory  fashion,  was  demanded 
by  Bonaparte.  "Thus  in  a  town  foreign  to  France,  not  occupied 
by  French  troops,  in  a  theatre  of  Prussian  players  and  a  Prussian 
audience,  a  criticism  on  a  matter  of  fiction  is  transmuted  to  a  state 
offence  against  the  French  government,  for  which  the  death  of  two 
officers  is  demanded  as  the  only  atonement." 

More  strange  still,  this  was  received  by  the  Prussian  government 
not  with  a  howl  of  ridicule,  but  by  a  solemn  conference  of  the  heads 
of  the  Prussian  government  —  about  twenty  persons.  And  this  in 
spite  of  the  fact  that  the  highest  punishment  for  such  an  offence 
under  Prussian  law  is  one  month's  arrest.  So  low  had  Prussia  sunk  ! 
— MSS.  of  London  Record  Office. 


PEACE   WITH    DISHONOR  97 

fronting  a  small  open  space  paved  with  cobble-stones. 
I  had  some  difficulty  in  finding  it  in  1892,  and,  not  being 
able  to  get  a  good  photograph  of  it,  I  sat  down  in  front 
of  it  and  made  a  rough  sketch.  There  is  nothing  re- 
motely suggestive  of  a  palace ;  and  the  house  occupied 
then  by  Napoleon  is  little  better.*  I  could  not  help 
wondering  that  nothing  was  done  by  the  German  gov- 
ernment of  to-day  to  distinguish  these  two  houses  from 
the  others;  not  even  the  guide-books  call  the  trav- 
eller's attention  to  the  historic  interest  their  walls 
awaken. 

Napoleon  was  not  indifferent  to  the  beauty  of  Queen 
Luise,  as  he  admitted  afterwards,  but  he  was  not  success- 
ful in  his  efforts  to  extract  amusement  from  her  at  such 
a  time.  Her  heart  was  heavy  with  grief  at  the  state  of 
her  country ;  she  had  sacrificed  even  her  self-respect  to 
come  and  beg  at  his  feet,  and  was  it  fair  to  expect  that 
in  this  hour  she  could  play  the  coquette? 

Napoleon,  with  a  tact  bordering  on  brutality,  opened 
the  conversation  by  asking  her  if  her  dress  was  made  of 
crape  or  Indian  gauze.  Luise  begged  that  he  would  not 
bring  such  trifles  up  for  discussion  at  such  a  time.  Then 
there  was  a  dull  pause,  broken  at  last  by  Luise  inquiring 
how  he  found  the  climate. 

To  this  Napoleon  made  the  rather  ominous  answer, 
"The  French  soldier  is  seasoned  to  every  climate." f 

*  The  house  in  which  Napoleon  had  his  headquarters  at  Tilsit  in 
1807  is  now  Number  24.  Deutsche  Htrasse.  On  the  occasion  of  my 
visit  in  June,  1892,  there  WHH  no  plate  to  mark  its  historical  interest. 
The  lower  story  was  occupied  by  two  shops,  the  one  saddlery,  the 
others  millinery.  It  fronts  upon  a  broad,  well  paved,  and  gas  lighted 
street,  and  appears  to  be  to  day  of  the  Mime  relative  importance  as  in 
1807  —P.  B. 

t  "  Et  moi,  je  juraf  interieureinent  de  cesser,  a  quelque  prix  que  ce 
fut,  d'Ctre  son  ministre,  dea  que  nous  serious  dc  relour  eu  France. 
L-7 


98  THE   GERMAN   STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

Then,  quick  as  a  flash,  falling  back  into  the  role  of 
soldier-diplomat,  he  said  to  her,  "  How  could  you  con- 
ceive the  idea  of  making  war  against  me  ?"  But  Luise 
pretended  not  to  note  the  insult  intended,  and  answered 
without  hesitation,  "  We  may  be  pardoned  for  having 
built  too  much  upon  the  fame  of  Frederick  the  Great." 
Even  Napoleon  could  not  fail  to  feel  the  superiority  of 
her  repartee — for  Rossbach  happened  not  many  years 
before  Jena,  and  there  Frederick  the  Great  thrashed  the 
French  more  gloriously  than  Napoleon  ever  thrashed  a 
Prussian  army.  So  the  Emperor  tried  to  change  the 
conversation — to  pay  her  compliments.  But  she  always 
came  back  to  the  subject  near  her  heart;  she  had  come 
to  beg  him  for  an  honorable  peace.  She  begged  for  her 
husband  and  her  prostrate  kingdom ;  she  admitted  his 
power  in  war;  he  had  secured  all  the  glory  that  war 
could  give  him — now  let  him  put  the  culminating  crown 
to  his  head  by  showing  the  world  that  he  was  generous 
to  the  fallen ;  she  spoke  of  justice,  of  mercy,  of  God,  of 
conscience.  Her  voice  choked ;  tears  came  to  her  eyes. 
She  forgot  all  that  Hardenberg  had  told  her ;  she  was 
no  longer  the  Queen ;  she  was  a  mother  pleading  for  her 
children.  It  seemed  as  though  he  felt  for  a  moment 
touched  by  the  sight  of  this  pure  and  beautiful  woman 

"  II  me  confirma  dans  cette  resolution  par  la  barbaric  avec  laquelle, 
a  Tilsit,  il  traita  la  Prusse,  quoiqu'il  ne  m'en  fit  pas  1'instrument. 

"  Cette  fois,  il  ne  s'en  rapporta  pas  a  moi  pour  trailer  des  contribu- 
tions de  guerre  et  de  1'evacuation  des  territoires  par  ses  troupes.  II  en 
chargea  le  Marechal  Bertbier. 

"  II  trouvait  qu'a  Presbourg  je  m'en  etais  acquitte  d'une  manifire 
trop  peu  conforme  a  ce  qu'il  croyait  3tre  ses  veritables  interests."  .  .  . 
— Memoires  de  Talleyrand,  i. ,  308. 

It  was  tbis  same  Talleyrand  who  claimed  credit  for  having  saved 
the  Dresden  galleries  from  plunder  at  the  hands  of  Napoleon.—  Ibid, 
i.,  310. 


PEACE    WITH    DISHONOR 


99 


pouring  out  to  him  such  noble  thoughts  as  no  woman 
had  ever  before  ventured  to  present  to  his  sensual  and 


calculating  mind.     She  pleaded  hard  for  Magdeburg— 
the  proudest  fortress  on  the  Elbe — a  town  as  dear  to 


100  THE   GERMAN   STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

Prussia  as  Dover  to  an  Englishman,  as  "West  Point  to 
an  American,  as  Quebec  to  a  Canadian.  Magdeburg 
was  to  Luise  the  key  to  Prussia,  and  she  begged  for  it 
with  a  fervor  that  would  have  gained  a  kingdom  from 
any  other  man.  Napoleon,  whether  honestly  or  not, 
seemed  moved,  and  said,  with  some  show  of  amiability, 
"  You  are  asking  a  great  deal — but  we  shall  see." 

The  words  "  we  shall  see "  made  Luise  very  happy. 
She  thought  that  Napoleon  had  human  feelings,  after 
all,  and  she  forgave  all  those  who  had  induced  her  to 
make  the  degrading  journey  to  Tilsit. 

She  did  not  know  that  on  the  way  home  that  evening 
Napoleon  laughed  the  matter  over  with  Talleyrand, 
saying  "  that  Magdeburg  was  worth  to  him  a  dozen 
Queens  of  Prussia." 

That  night,  after  dinner,  Napoleon  sought  to  play  the 
gallant,  and  offered  her  a  rose.  She  looked  at  it,  and 
was  about  to  decline  it.  But,  recalling  the  object  of  her 
mission,  she  forced  a  smile  to  her  lips,  and  said,  "  Let 
it  be  at  least  with  Magdeburg."  To  this  Napoleon 
answered  by  a  stare,  and  words  which  showed  that  his 
politeness  lay  only  on  the  surface  —  "  Permit  me  to 
remind  you,  madame,  that  it  is  my  place  to  offer,  and 
yours  to  accept." 

The  Tilsit  dinners,  balls,  and  so-called  festivities  were 
melancholy  functions  to  poor  Luise,  who  learned  in  the 
following  days  that  Napoleon  had  insisted  upon  every 
item  of  his  demands  exactly  as  he  had  originally  dictated 
them,  and  that  he  treated  his  talks  with  the  Prussian 
Queen  as  idle  chaff.  Furthermore,  he  sent  words  to  the 
Prussian  King  that  he  was  tired  of  Tilsit,*  and  wished 

*  I  have  seen  illustrations  in  pretentious  histories  which  lead 
the  casual  reader  to  think  that  the  entertainment,  in  Tilsit  took  place 
in  a  magnificent  palace.  This  is  a  mistake,  and  it  shows  that  such 


l.flsK    AM)    NAI'i »I.K« IN    AT    TII.MT 


PEACE   WITH    DISHONOR  101 

the  matter  closed.  And  so  on  July  9,  1807,  Prussia 
signed  away  to  Xapoleon  half  her  territory,  and  every 
sovereign  right  that  might  assist  her  to  become  strong 
in  the  future.  She  bound  herself  to  pay  an  indemnity 
enormously  beyond  her  means,  and  to  man  tain  French 
garrisons  in  the  country  until  this  impossible  sum  was 
paid  off.  No  such  terms  had  ever  before  been  accepted  by 
a  great  nation.  That  was  the  famous  treaty  of  Tilsit.* 

historian  had  never  been  in  Tilsit  and  had  no  access  to  a  contempo- 
rary picture  of  the  place. — P.  B. 

*  Secret  treaty  of  Tilsit,  July  7,  1807.  printed  for  the  first  time  by 
Tatistcheff  in  Alexandre  I.  ami  Xapoleon  (1891).  Of  this  treaty  Tatis- 
tcheff  says  :  "  Seul  I'exempluire  russeexiste  i  1'heure  qu'il  est,"  name- 
ly, in  the  archives  of  the  Russian  Foreign  Office  ;  and  this  he  says  he 
transcribed  "fldeleraent." 

Article  I.  His  Majesty  the  Emperor  of  all  the  Russias  and  His  Maj- 
esty the  Emperor  of  the  French,  King  of  Italy,  engage  to  make  com- 
mon cause,  whether  by  land  or  whether  by  sea,  or  whether  by  land 
and  sea,  in  all  wars  which  Russia  or  France  may  be  compelled  to  un- 
dertake or  sustain  against  any  and  every  European  power. 

Art.  II.  provides  that  each  shall  place  his  whole  war  strength  at 
the  disposal  of  the  other. 

Art.  III.  All  the  operations  of  a  Common  war  shall  be  made  in  con- 
cert;  and  neither  of  the  contract  ing  powers  may  in  any  case  treat  of 
peace  without  the  co  operation  and  consent  of  the  other. 

Art.  IV.  If  England  docs  not  accept  the  mediation  of  Russia,  or 
if  after  accepting  it  she  does  not  by  the  1st  of  November  consent  to 
make  pence  by  recognizing  that  the  Hags  of  all  powers  shall  enjoy 
equal  and  perfect  independence  upon  the  high  seas,  and  by  restoring 
the  conquests  made  at  the  expense  of  France  and  her  allies  since  1805. 
when  Russia  made  common  cause  with  her,  a  note  shall,  in  the 
course  of  that  monlli,  be  sent  to  the  court  of  Si.  James  by  the  aml>as 
sador  of  His  Majesty  the  Emperor  of  all  the  Russias.  That  note,  ex- 
pressing tin:  interest  taken  by  his  said  Imperial  Majesty  in  the  peace 
of  the  world,  the  intention  he  cherishes  of  employing  all  the  forces  of 
his  empire  in  procuring  to  humanity  the  blessings  of  peace,  shall 
contain  a  positive  and  explicit  declaration  Unit  on  England's  refusing 
to  make  peace  on  the  terms  indicated.  His  Majesty  thu  Emperor  of  all 
the  Russias  will  muke  common  cause  with  France;  and  in  case  (he 


102  THE   GERMAN   STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

The  Czar  Alexander*  paid  his  dear  ally  Frederick  Will- 
iam some  compliments,  acquiesced  in  all  that  Napoleon 
did,  and  assisted  in  the  work  of  spoliation  by  stealing 

St.  James  government  shall  not  have  given  a  categorical  and  satis- 
factory answer  by  the  1st  of  next  December,  the  Russian  ambassador 
shall  have  instructions  in  such  an  event  to  demand  his  passports  on 
that  same  day,  and  to  leave  England  immediately. 

Art.  V.  When  the  event  just  anticipated  shall  have  occurred,  the 
high  contracting  parties  shall  in  concert  and  at  the  same  time  summon 
the  three  courts  of  Copenhagen,  Stockholm,  and  Lisbon  to  close  their 
ports  to  the  English,  to  recall  their  ambassadors  from  London,  and  to 
declare  war  against  England. 

Art.  VI.  The  two  high  contracting  parties  shall  act  with  the  same 
concert  and  insist  energetically  (avec  force)  at  the  court  of  Vienna  to 
compel  it  to  adopt  the  principles  enunciated  in  Art.  IV.  above :  that  she 
close  her  ports  to  the  English,  recall  her  ambassador  from  London,  and 
declare  war  against  England. 

Art.  VII.  If,  on  the  contrary,  England  makes  peace  on  the  con- 
ditions above  mentioned  in  the  specified  interval  of  time,  and  His 
Majesty  the  Emperor  of  all  the  Russias  shall  use  his  whole  influ- 
ence to  accomplish  this  result,  Hanover  shall  be  restored  to  the  Eng- 
lish King  as  a  compensation  for  the  French,  Spanish,  and  Dutch 
colonies. 

Art.  VIII.  refers  to  the  plundering  of  Turkey. 

Art.  IX.  The  present  treaty  shall  remain  a  secret,  and  cannot  be 
made  public  or  communicated  to  any  cabinet  by  either  party  without 
the  consent  of  the  other.  It  shall  be  ratified,  and  the  ratifications  ex- 
changed at  Tilsit  within  four  days. 

Done  at  Tilsit,  July  7,  1807. 

Signed  by  Kourakine,  Rostof,  and  Talleyrand. 

"En  outre  fut  sign6  le  me'me  jour  un  traite  secret  d'alliance.  La 
Russie  promettait  de  declarer  la  guerre  a  1'Angleterre  le  I"  De- 
cembre  suivant.  En  revanche,  la  France  promettait  sa  mediation, 
et  an  besoin  son  alliance,  contre  la  Turquie  et  un  plan  de  partage 
de  1' Empire  Ottoman  fut  arre'te.  II  fut  egalement  parle  d'une  expe- 
dition vers  1'Inde." — Talleyrand,  i.,  315. 

*  Alexander  I.  .  .  .  "appeared  effeminate  and  sensitive,  had  that 
peculiar  friendliness  which  expects  reciprocal  feeling — in  short,  that 
something  which  in  woman's  face  we  look  upon  as  coquettish  van- 
ity."—Arndt,  1812,  p.  84. 


PEACE   WITH    DISHONOR  103 

from  Prussia  a  large  slice  of  her  eastern  provinces,  in- 
cluding the  city  of  Warsaw. 

On  July  10,  1807,  Luise  went  back  to  Memel.    She 
was  incapable  of  more  sacrifice — her  heart  was  broken. 


XII 

COLBERG— GNEISENAU,  NETTELBECK,  SCHILL 

"The  God  who  made  Earth's  iron  hoard 

Scorned  to  create  a  slave  ; 
Hence  unto  man  the  spear  and  sword 

In  his  right  hand  he  gave. 
Hence  him  with  Courage  he  imbued, 

Lent  wrath  to  Freedom's  voice  ; 
That  death  or  victory  in  the  feud 
Might  be  his  only  choice." 

— Arndt,  "  Vaterlandslied." 

"THE  fortresses  which  should  have  shielded  us  and 
set  bounds  to  our  misfortune  passed  over  to  the  enemy 
through  cowardice  and  treachery."  So  wrote  Queen 
Luise  in  a  confidential  letter  to  her  father,  dated  May 
15,1807.  She  applied  the  terms  coward  and  traitor  to 
Prussian  officers  who  represented  exclusively  titles  of 
nobility  and  high  military  rank.  I  should  not  venture 
to  use  such  language  had  I  not  for  so  doing  the  author- 
ity of  competent  judges. 

In  this  campaign  between  Jena  and  Tilsit,  in  which 
traitors  and  cowards  occupy  so  much  historical  space, 
there  is  one  precious  exception.  It  shows  us  again  how 
much  Prussia  might  have  accomplished  had  the  honest 
plain  citizens  been  allowed  a  voice  in  the  defence  of 
their  country. 

On  the  lonesome  shores  of  the  Prussian  Baltic,  about 
seventy  miles  from  the  mouth  of  the  Oder  at  Stettin, 


COLBEBO — GNEISENAU,  NETTELBECK,  SCHILL  105 

and  about  one  hundred  miles  from  the  Vistula  mouth 
at  Danzig,  is  the  little  walled  seaport  of  Colberg.  It 
is  one  of  the  worst  seaports  I  can  imagine,  for  the  town 
lies  about  a  mile  from  the  Baltic,  up  a  narrow  and 
shallow  river,  which  forms  at  its  mouth  a  bar  exceed- 
ingly difficult  for  boats  to  cross  in  bad  weather.  The 
walls  of  Colberg  had  fallen  to  decay  ;  on  the  ramparts 
were  only  eighty -six  pieces  of  antiquated  artillery, 
which  ultimately  proved  as  deadly  to  the  gunners  of 
the  town  as  to  the  enemy.  There  was  only  one  artillery- 
man to  each  gun,  and  the  total  garrison  was  only  about 
one  thousand  men,  made  up  of  such  as  were  not  good 
enough  to  send  to  the  front.  The  commander  was,  like 
his  colleagues  in  the  other  Prussian  posts,  a  "  noble- 
man "  of  high  military  position,  and,  like  the  rest, 
showed  a  most  unsoldierly  readiness  to  surrender  the 
town  as  soon  as  the  French  expressed  a  desire  to  oc- 
cupy it. 

Now  Colberg  had  some  sturdy  citizens,  who  loved 
their  country,  and  believed  that  their  town  was  worth  a 
good  fight.  They  too  had  traditions,  and  remembered 
that  in  the  days  of  the  great  Frederick  its  walls  had 
successfully  resisted  three  Russian  attacks.  Colberg 
also  maintained  the  tradition  that  every  citizen  must 
be  ready  to  man  the  ramparts  in  case  of  invasion,  and 
the  town  had  thus  an  auxiliary  force  of  volunteer 
militia  or  "minute-men"  amounting  to  eight  hundred, 
well  armed  and  equipped,  and  tolerably  trained.  The 
commander  of  this  citizen  band  was  a  rare  noble 
character,  seventy  years  of  age.  Net tel beck  was  his 
name.  He  had  been  a  seafaring  man,  and  a  traveller  in 
many  strange  quarters  of  the  globe.  After  the  manner 
of  sailor-men,  he  was  honest  and  brave,  and  full  of 
resources.  He  had  come  back  to  his  native  town  at  a 


106  THE    GERMAN    STRUGGLE    FOR   LIBERTY 

time  when  most  men  think  only  of  spending  their  de- 
clining years  in  peace.  His  fellow-citizens  had  quickly 
recognized  his  loyal  qualities,  however,  and  in  the  hour 
of  danger  elected  him  their  leader. 

When  the  French  menaced  Colberg,  he  promptly 
reported  himself  to  the  "noble"  commandant  for  the 
purpose  of  placing  at  his  services  the  citizen  force  of 
eight  hundred.  Before  the  commandant  could  formu- 
late an  answer,  his  adjutant,  another  nobleman,  turned 
rudely  to  old  Nettelbeck  and  said,  "  But  what  business 
is  that  of  yours,  pray  ?"  The  average  nobleman  of  that 
time  did  not  think  that  a  plain  citizen  might  also  have 
a  country  to  preserve.  The  commandant  contempt- 
uously dismissed  old  Nettelbeck  with  the  words, "  Well, 
if  you  care  so  much  about  parading,  do  so !"  The 
volunteers  were  therefore  drawn  up  in  the  market-place, 
ready  for  inspection;  and  Nettelbeck,  pocketing  his 
pride,  once  more  went  to  the  conceited  commandant  to 
report  that  his  force  was  assembled  and  awaited  further 
orders. 

The  noble  commandant  wore  a  most  ill-pleased  look. 
Nettelbeck,  for  all  recognition,  received  this  message: 
"  Stop  this  nonsense,  you  silly  people.  For  goodness' 
sake,  go  back  to  your  homes !  What  is  the  use  of  my 
looking  at  you  ?"  This  was  discouraging.  Nettelbeck 
held  a  council  with  his  officers,  and  it  was  decided  to 
sacrifice  everything  to  the  welfare  of  Colberg.  So  Net- 
telbeck  once  more  called  upon  the  pretentious  comman- 
dant, offering  to  assist  in  putting  the  fortifications  in 
better  order.  The  answer  given  was : 

"  Oh,  bother  your  everlasting  citizens !  I  want  no 
citizens,  and  shall  have  nothing  whatever  to  do  with 
them." 

A  less  tame  population  would  have  treated  this  com- 


TIIK    DKMAM)   K(»K   TIIK   si  UUKM>l.ll   UK   COI.IIKUO 


COLBERG GXEISENAUj  NETTELBECK,  SCHILL  107 

mandant  to  a  coat  of  tar  and  feathers.  But  the  patient 
and  patriotic  Colbergers  worked  away  secretly  and  in 
spite  of  the  commandant.  They  suspected  him  of 
treachery,  and  therefore  watched  the  gates  of  the  town 
day  and  night,  taking  turns  at  the  work.  As  the  dan- 
ger grew  more  serious,  Xettelbeck  made  an  inventory 
of  the  food-supply,  and  called  the  commandant's  atten- 
tion to  the  matter.  Instead  of  thanks,  he  was  treated 
to  insult. 

On  March  15, 1807,  a  French  officer  bearing  a  flag  of 
truce,  and  driving  in  a  carriage  drawn  by  four  horses 
with  postilions,  demanded  admittance.  On  the  box  of 
the  carriage  sat  a  bugler ;  at  each  side  walked  two  sol- 
diers with  muskets.  The  commandant  not  only  allowed 
the  whole  party  to  enter  Colberg,  but  received  the  offi- 
cer with  cordiality,  and  remained  closeted  with  him  for 
a  long  time,  during  which  the  soldiers  of  the  escort  were 
shown  over  the  works  by  a  Prussian  sergeant,  who  with- 
in two  days  deserted  to  the  French.  Xettelbeck  was 
convinced  that  this  French  escort  was  composed  of  en- 
gineer officers,  and  that  the  commandant  was  hatching 
treachery  while  locked  up  with  the  bearer  of  the  flag  of 
truce. 

Old  Xettelbeck  was  not  afraid  of  the  French,  but 
treachery  was  more  than  he  could  stand.  So  down  ho 
sat  and  wrote  directly  to  the  King,  who  was  in  Memel, 
about  three  hundred  miles  away. 

The  King  shared  with  the  average  Prussian  noble- 
man a  strong  dislike  of  anything  in  the  shape  of  citizen 
enterprise.  lie  had  persistently  rejected  every  proposal 
made  on  behalf  of  a  national  militia.  He  feared  an 
army  of  Prussian  citi/.ens  more  than  he  did  that  of  Na- 
poleon. To  him  the  pooplo  in  arms  meant  a  mob  such 
as  cut  off  the  head  of  Louis  XVI.  However,  now  that 


108  THE   GERMAN    STRUGGLE    FOR   LIBERTY 

his  throne  was  in  such  danger  that  abdication  and  exile 
were  discussed,  he  permitted  measures  which  from  his 
point  of  view  were  desperate.  The  letter  of  old  Nettel- 
beck,  instead  of  calling  forth  a  severe  injunction  to 
mind  his  own  business,  was  at  this  time  well  received, 
and  steps  were  taken  to  send  to  Colberg  a  comman- 
dant of  energy.  Meanwhile  Nettelbeck  and  his  citizen 
guard  devoted  their  lives  and  their  fortunes  to  fighting 
the  French  and  thwarting  the  unpatriotic  attempts  of 
the  supercilious  commandant. 

It  was  on  April  5th,  while  the  bombardment  was  go- 
ing on,  that  this  nobleman  happened  upon  the  market- 
place just  as  a  few  bombs  exploded  harmlessly  near  by. 
He  looked  bewildered  at  the  soldiers,  and  stammered 
out  to  the  officers  near  him,  "  If  this  goes  on,  gentlemen, 
we  shall  1'ave  to  give  in." 

A  fine  way  this  for  a  fortress  commander  to  encour- 
age his  men!  Old  Nettelbeck  stepped  forward,  and 
checked  further  talk  of  this  kind  by  shouting  out  to  the 
commander,  so  that  all  could  hear  him  :  u  The  first  man 
that  dares  to  repeat  that  damned  suggestion  of  surren- 
der dies — and  I  shall  kill  him  !"  Then  pointing  his 
sword  straight  at  the  cowardly  commander's  breast,  he 
said  to  the  citizens :  "  Now  is  the  time  to  show  the  stuff 
that  is  in  us ;  let  us  do  our  duty — or  we  deserve  to  die 
like  dogs !" 

The  commandant  screamed  out  helplessly :  "  Arrest 
him!  Put  him  in  chains!"  But  no  one  would  carry 
out  the  order.  The  citizens  crowded  around  old  Nettel- 
beck  and  saw  him  safely  home.  The  commandant 
then  made  out  an  order  that  Nettelbeck  should  be  shot 
early  on  the  following  morning ;  but  this  created  such 
an  uproar  in  Colberg  that  it  was  promptly  rescinded, 
with  many  threats  of  future  indefinite  vengeance. 


NETTELBECK  THREATENS   THE   GOVEKNOH 


COLBEKG — GNEISENAU,  NETTELBECK,  8CHILL  109 

At  last,  however,  this  governor  was  recalled.  His 
successor,  who  arrived  on  April  29, 1807,  was  a  man  dis- 
liked by  the  King;  a  man  of  courage  and  enterprise. 
He  had  spent  a  year  in  America  during  the  war  of  inde- 
pendence as  a  37oung  officer  in  the  pay  of  George  III.* 
He  came  back  from  that  war  with  new  ideas,  for  there 
he  had  learned  that  farmer-boys  inflamed  by  love  of 
country  and  guided  by  men  of  practical  common-sense 
can  be  a  match  for  mercenary  soldiers  led  by  profes- 
sional officers.  This  officer  was  forty-seven  years  old, 
and  his  name  was  Gneisenau  (pronounced  Gnyzenow,ihe 
"  ow  "  pronounced  as  in  how). 

Old  Kettelbeck  on  the  morning  of  that  day  had  been 
looking  everywhere  in  town  for  the  vice-commandant 
of  the  fortress,  and  finally  found  him  coming  from  the 
shipping  with  a  stranger.  Nettelbeck  had  news  regard- 
ing some  fresh  movement  on  the  part  of  the  French 
artillery. 

"This  stranger,"  to  use  Nettelbeck's  language,  "a 
young,  vigorous  man  of  noble  carriage,  pleased  me  at 
the  very  first,  nor  can  I  tell  exactly  why.  But  as  my 
business  was  with  the  vice-commandant,  and  urgent  at 
that,  I  drew  him  aside  by  the  hand  in  order  to  whisper 
in  his  ear,  because  of  the  presence  of  this  stranger.  But 
he  smiled  at  this  precaution,  and  said,  '  Come  to  my 
quarters ;  it  is  a  more  convenient  place.' 

"  Once  there,  and  '  under  six  eyes,'  the  vice-comman- 
dant turned  to  me  and  said :  '  Cheer  up,  old  friend !  This 
gentleman,  Major  Gneisenau,  is  the  new  commandant 
whom  the  King  has  sent  to  us.'  And  turning  to  his 
guest, '  This  is  old  Nettelbeck.' 

*  England  sent  to  America  during  that  war  30,000  German  regu- 
lars, of  which  17,000  only  returned.  The  balance  ran  away,  for  the 
most  part,  and  became  citizens  of  the  new  republic. — P.  B. 


110  THE   GERMAN   STRUGGLE   FOR    LIBERTY 

"  My  limbs  were  seized  with  a  sudden  pleasurable 
panic,  my  heart  beat  violently  in  my  breast,  and  tears 
streamed  uninterruptedly  from  my  eyes ;  my  knees 
trembled  beneath  me.  Overpowered  by  my  feelings,  I 
sank  to  the  ground  before  him,  our  new  protecting  spirit, 
held  fast  hold  of  him,  and  cried  out :  '  In  God's  name,  do 
not  leave  us !  We  will  stand  by  you  as  long  as  a  drop 
of  warm  blood  remains  in  our  bodies,  even  though  we 
have  to  see  every  house  in  town  reduced  to  cinders! 
Nor  am  I  alone  in  this;  we  all  breathe  the  same  thought: 
the  city  must  not  be,  shall  not  be,  surrendered.' ': 

Gneisenau  raised  the  old  man  up  with  the  words, 
"  No,  children.  I'll  stand  by  you.  God  will  help  us !" 

Next  morning,  the  balance  of  this  day  being  spent  in 
an  incognito  inspection  of  the  place,  Gneisenau  mustered 
the  troops  and  gave  them  a  talking  to,  "  as  impressive 
and  affecting,"  says  Nettelbeck, "  as  though  a  good  father 
had  been  addressing  dearly  beloved  children." 

"  All  felt  his  words  so  deeply  that  the  old  bearded 
veterans  wept  like  children,  and  with  choking  voices 
shouted  that  with  him  as  leader  they  were  ready  to  die 
for  King  and  country." 

On  the  next  day  his  meeting  with  the  municipal  lead- 
ers was  no  less  touching,  they  with  enthusiasm  declar- 
ing, as  they  grasped  his  hand,  that  they  intrusted  him 
cheerfully  with  their  lives  and  fortunes. 

"  And  to  speak  truth,  a  new  spirit  and  new  life  came 
from  this  time  on  upon  all  we  did — as  though  straight 
from  heaven." 

As  to  the  wretched  man  whom  Gneisenau  superseded, 
he  was  subsequently  retired  on  a  good  pension,  with  the 
rank  of  major-general — a  man  who  richly  deserved  the 
gallows. 

We  shall  hear  more  of  Gneisenau  in  years  to  come. 


COLBEEQ GNEISENAU,  NETTELBECK,  SCHILL  111 

He  was  given  command  in  Colberg  purely  on  account 
of  merit ;  for,  as  I  have  said  before,  he  was  personally 
distasteful  to  his  King,  as  were  nearly  all  the  strong 
men  who  subsequently  made  Germany  free.  It  should 
encourage  young  officers  to  reflect  that  Gneisenau  was 
forty-seven  years  old  before  he  found  the  opportunity  to 
make  his  name  heard  in  any  way. 

The  siege  of  Colberg  gave  him  the  means  of  putting 
his  previously  gathered  knowledge  into  practice.  In 
America  he  had  learned  the  importance  of  skirmishing 
tactics.  At  Colberg  he  inaugurated  the  method  of  for- 
tress defence  which  has  slowly  made  its  way  in  the  mil- 
itary mind,  and  now  is  accepted  everywhere.  His  idea 
was  not  to  merely  shut  himself  in  behind  walls  and  resist 
the  cannon  of  the  enemy.  Gneisenau  gave  his  besiegers 
no  rest  night  or  day. 

Schill  was  his  guerilla  help.  That  gallant  young 
cavalry  officer  had  made  his  way  with  a  handful  of  men 
from  Jena,  had  reached  Colberg  at  last,  and  at  once 
commenced  from  under  its  walls  a  series  of  raids  upon 
the  French  which  caused  them  much  trouble. 

He  received  in  January  the  royal  permission  to  re- 
cruit an  independent  corps,  and  throughout  the  siege 
contributed  enormously  to  the  discouragement  of  the 
enemy.  Old  Nettelbeck  always  kept  a  big  pot  of 
potatoes  and  other  vegetables  simmering  on  his  stove, 
and  these  he  carted  out  to  the  camp  of  Schill  whenever 
he  got  the  chance.  Sometimes  he  had  difficulty  in 
getting  provisions  for  his  "  children,"  as  he  affection- 
ately called  Schill  and  his  gallant  men.  Old  Nettelbeck 
would  then  go  about  from  house  to  house  and  beg  the 
good  citizens  to  quickly  cook  him  something  good, 
which  was  always  cheerfully  done. 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  Schill  was  disliked  by  the 


112  THE    GERMAN    STRUGGLE   FOR    LIBERTY 

previous   commandant  of  Colberg  as   a  busybody,  but 
highly  prized  by  Gneisenau  and  Nettelbeck. 

It  was  a  hard  siege,  and  it  grew  in  hardness  as  the 
French  crept  nearer  and  nearer  with  their  big  guns. 
The  garrison,  however,  increased  from  1000  to  6000 
men,  mostl}7  loyal  fugitives  from  Jena  and  Auerstadt. 
This  was  a  force  considerably  more  than  the  normal 
population  of  the  town  itself.  But  of  these  brave  6000 
more  than  2000  were  killed  or  wounded  during  the 
siege,  and  scarce  a  house  had  a  window-pane  left  when 
a  truce  was  announced  on  July  3,  1807.  The  French 
knew  *  that  on  June  25th  Napoleon  and  Frederick 
William  III.  had  signed  a  cessation  of  hostilities,  but 
they  did  not  let  Gneisenau  know  of  this.  On  the  con- 
trary, they  made  most  desperate  efforts  to  conquer  that 
place  before  news  of  peace  should  penetrate  the  walls. 
And  so  the  needless  killing  went  on,  simply  because  the 
King  had  made  no  arrangements  for  rapid  communica- 
tion between  his  headquarters  and  his  principal  fortresses. 

*  The  isolation  of  Prussia  as  regards  news  during  these  years  was 
striking,  as  can  readily  be  noted  by  any  one  turning  over  despatches 
in  the  London  Record  Office.  From  one  to  two  months  was  re- 
quired for  a  letter  to  reach  London  from  points  in  Eastern  Prussia. 
The  KOnigsberg  newspaper  of  January  1,  1807,  for  instance,  has  its 
latest  foreign  news  despatches  dated  as  follows:  Ulm,  December  4th; 
Vienna,  December  7th  ;  Hamburg,  December  llth  ;  Venice,  November 
30th  ;  Constantinople,  November  9th.  To-day  the  traveller  can  cross 
the  Atlantic  and  return  in  less  time  than  it  took  in  1807  for  a  Prussian 
to  post  from  one  end  of  Germany  to  the  other. 

The  French  did  things  better  then  :  "Ainsi,  les  communications 
entre  son  quartier  general  [Warsaw]  et  ses  ministres  etaient  assurees 
par  un  service  d'estafettes,  comme  elles  auraient  pu  l'6tre  de  Paris 
&  Fontainebleau." 

"  Le  gigantesque  entrait  dans  les  habitudes." — Pasquier,  vol.  i., 
p.  298.  Referring  to  the  ease  with  which  Napoleon  governed  Europe 
in  the  winter  of  1806-7. 


COLBEEG — GNEISENAU,  NETTELBECK,  SCHILL 


113 


Gneisenau  took  no  particular  credit  to  himself  for  the 
glorious  work  he  had  accomplished.  He  had  acted  as  a 
brave  man  and  done  his  duty.  To  one  of  his  comrades 
he  wrote:  "  I  had  good  luck  in  getting  hold  of  the  stuff 
I  needed  —  and  I  needed  nearly  everything.  I  shoul- 
dered every  responsibilit}%  acted  like  an  independent 
prince,  was  often  despotic,  cashiered  officers  who  showed 
the  white  feather,  made  friends  with  the  good  fellows, 
did  not  worry  about  the  future,  and  let  the  artillery 
play  for  all  it  was  worth." 

When  Gneisenau  ran  short  of  money  to  pay  his  men, 
he  issued  paper  for  small  sums  from  two  up  to  eight 


GNEISENAU'S  MONEY 

groschen  (from  five  cents  to  one  shilling,  or  twenty-five 
cents).  He  had  no  printing-press  in  Colberg,  and  there- 
fore utilized  the  school -children  to  write  out  these 
extraordinary  notes.  Counterfeits  were  punishable  by 
death. 

Nettelbeck    had   suggested    this   means    of    raising 
money.     He  had  seen   it   in    operation   amongst   the 
planters  of  Dutch  Guiana,  as  I  have  seen  it  amongst 
I.— 8 


114  THE   GERMAN   STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

the  European  merchants  in  the  Chinese  and  Japanese 
treaty  ports.  For  small  sums  the  plan  works  well  in 
a  community  which  has  full  confidence  in  the  solvency 
of  the  party  making  the  issue.  In  Colberg  all  believed 
in  Gneisenau,  and,  as  events  proved,  their  trust  was 
well  placed,  for  the  Prussian  treasury  subsequently  re- 
deemed all  the  Colberg  paper  money  issued  during  the 
siege.  I  have  seen  many  specimens  of  this  curious  cur- 
rency in  German  museums.  The  paper  certificates,  or 
"  checks,"  are  about  two  inches  long  by  one  and  a  half 
wide,  made  of  the  poorest  paper.  On  one  side  is  the 
coarse  official  seal  of  Colberg  stamped  in  black  ink.  On 
the  other  side  is  the  value,  expressed  in  children's  hand- 
writing— two,  four,  and  eight  groschen.  There  are  three 
official  seals  on  each  piece  of  paper  money,  and  this 
fact  alone  suggests  that  the  Prussian  officials  in  Colberg 
must  have  had  much  time  to  spare,  if  they  found  it 
worth  their  while  to  sign  every  five -cent  piece  in  cir- 
culation. 

Of  course,  had  the  Prussian  King  been  deposed  by 
Napoleon  after  Tilsit,  this  paper  money  would  have  been 
worth  no  more  than  Confederate  "  shinplasters  "  after 
the  close  of  the  civil  war  in  America.* 

Gneisenau  did  not  regard  himself  as  either  a  hero  or  a 
genius.  He  set  to  work  in  Colberg  as  a  plain  man  of 
business.  Instead  of  insulting  the  patriotic  citizens,  he 
made  them  his  friends ;  and  when  he  left  the  place  for 
good  he  was  followed  by  the  blessings  and  prayers  of  all 
whom  he  had  defended.  He  believed  in  Prussia  and  the 
German  people;  he  knew  they  had  suffered  a  heavy 
blow,  but  he  believed  that  this  blow  would  rouse  them 

*  We  have  been  assured  on  good  authority  that  more  than  one 
town  in  Prussia  is  still  (1896)  paying  interest  on  moneys  raised  under 
compulsion  during  the  Napoleonic  occupation. 


COLBERG — GNEISENAU,  NETTELBECK,   SCHILL  115 

from  their  state  of  self-conceit  and  weakness.  Even  as 
the  siege  wore  on  into  the  months  of  summer,  when 
Napoleon  had  won  the  battle  of  Friedland,  Gneisenau 
did  not  lose  heart.  He  kept  the  port  of  Colberg  open, 
and  received  supplies  from  English  and  Swedish  men-of- 
war.  The  Prussian  army  had  been  so  thrashed  that  at 
the  battle  of  Eylau,  in  early  February,  only  6000  men 
were  there  to  represent  the  cause  of  Germany.  But  the 
people  were  still  there ;  the  King  had  but  to  give  the 
signal,  and  a  new  army  would  be  in  the  field.*  Not  an 
army  of  mercenaries  with  weak-kneed  old  nobles  in  com- 
mand, but  a  people  in  arms  commanded  by  men  of  their 
own  choosing,  like  Bliicher  and  Schill  and  Gneisenau. 
England  controlled  the  sea,  and  was  landing  arms  and 
ammunition  as  rapidly  as  they  could  be  used.f 

Gneisenau  looked  upon  Colberg  as  a  base  from  which 
to  sally  forth  and  harass  the  long  weak  line  of  commu- 
nication between  Napoleon  and  his  sources  of  supply. 

To  be  sure,  a  king  must  trust  his  people  when  he  puts 
rifles  into  their  hands  and  lets  them  organize  independ- 
ent companies,  and,  unfortunately  for  Prussia,  Frederick 
William  could  not  do  this.  He  did  permit  privates  to 
rise  from  the  ranks  and  become  officers,  but  only  for  the 

*  Hutchinsou  reports  on  April  30,  1807,  that  a  whole  battalion  of 
Prussian  regulars  deserted  to  the  French  at  Weichselmtlnde,  to  say 
nothing  of  all  the  Prussian  Poles. 

f  Germans  are  apt  to  forget  the  great  services  done  them  by  England 
in  these  trying  days.  Already  on  November  20,  1806,  Lieutenant- 
General  Lord  Hutchinson  was  appointed  special  envoy,  authorized  to 
advance  £200,000  to  Prussia  merely  on  condition  of  having  Hanover 
restored  to  her.  And  from  this  time  on  through  to  the  battle  of 
Waterloo  England  loyally  served  the  cause  of  the  German  people, 
even  when  she  had  reason  to  fear  that  the  money  which  she  sent  to 
Frederick  William  III.  might  be  spent,  not  against  Napoleon,  but  for 
him,  as,  for  instance,  in  the  campaign  against  Russia. — Reports  of 
Garlicke  and  Hutchinson,  Public  Record  Office,  London. 


116  THE   GERMAN   STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

duration  of  the  war.  Yet,  small  as  this  concession  was, 
it  had  an  excellent  effect,  and  Gneisenau  noted  on  all 
sides  a  popular  disposition  to  volunteer  and  carry  on  the 
fight.  Far  down  oelow  the  surface  the  people  were  be- 
ginning to  say  to  themselves :  "  T^e  have  had  enough  of 
the  pretentious,  swaggering,  professional  soldier.  He 
makes  a  fine  show  in  peace-time,  and  runs  away  when 
the  bullets  fly.  He  sneers  at  citizens,  yet  our  citizens 
fight  better,  and  make  less  fuss  about  it." 

Gneisenau  had  learned  in  America  the  importance  of 
public  sentiment  in  a  free  community.  He  made  soldiers 
out  of  the  most  unpromising  material.  At  Colberg  he 
found  free  citizens  and  mercenary  garrison  troops,  and 
to  these  were  added  several  thousand  who  had  escaped 
from  Jena.  Under  other  commanders  these  men  accom- 
plished nothing.  They  became  heroes  under  the  influ- 
ence of  a  Gneisenau. 

Colberg  to-day  has  a  costly  monument  to  Frederick 
William  III.,  but  none  to  Gneisenau,  Schill,  or  Nettel- 
beck.  In  1892  I  made  a  pilgrimage  to  this  place,  sacred 
in  the  annals  of  German  liberty.  Many  were  the  in- 
quiries I  made  before  discovering  where  was  the  grave 
of  Nettelbeck — a  neglected  stone  in  an  obscure  part  of 
the  graveyard.  I  searched  in  vain  for  traces  of  the  great 
men  who  have  made  Colberg  a  household  word  wherever 
German  liberty  is  prized.  The  old  walls  still  stand  from 
which  Gneisenau  directed  his  gallant  defence.  The 
earthworks  at  the  mouth  of  the  little  river  can  still  be 
traced,  and  the  ragged  sand  dunes  from  behind  which 
Schill  started  on  his  daring  raids,  after  the  manner  of 
Marion  in  the  war  of  the  American  Revolution.  The 
harbor  mouth,  where  English  men-of-war  unloaded  stores 
for  the  hard-pressed  garrison  in  1807,  is  now  the  resort 
of  pleasure-seekers,  who  flock  here  in  summer  for  the 


NETTKLBKCK 


COLBERG — GNEISENAU,  NETTELBECK,  SCHILL  117 

excellent  sea-bathing.  The  ground  that  then  was  soaked 
in  the  blood  of  besieged  and  besiegers  is  now  laid  out 
in  pleasant  paths  for  the  tourist,  and  the  music  of  the 
Casino  band  plays  where  formerly  only  cannons  had  the 
say.  In  truth,  looked  at  from  the  surface,  Colberg  has 
forgotten  her  heroes  and  her  days  of  suffering.  But  the 
heart  beats  below  the  surface,  and  to-day  in  Germany 
no  words  awaken  livelier  gratitude  and  patriotism  than 
these  four :  Colberg,  Gneisenau,  Nettelbeck,  Schill. 


XIII 

SOMETHING   ABOUT    GNEISENAU'S    EARLY  STRUGGLES 

"Good  Sword  !    Yes  !  I  am  free 
And  fondly  I  love  thee, 
As  wert  thou,  at  my  side, 
My  sweet  affianced  bride. 
Hurrah  !" 

— K5rner,  "Sclrwer tiled." — Composed  a  few  hours  before  the 
author's  death  on  the  battle-field. 

ONE  day,  in  the  course  of  a  canoe  cruise  down  the 
beautiful  Elbe  (1893),  I  arrived  under  the  walls  of  a 
grand  old  castle  belonging  to  the  fortress  of  Torgau. 
The  majestic  walls  of  this  beautiful  place  recalled  to 
me  not  merely  Frederick  the  Great's  famous  victory 
over  the  Austrians,  but  the  curious  fact  that  when 
young  Gneisenau  matriculated  at  the  Erfurt  University 
he  was  enrolled  as  from  Torgau,  rather  than  from  his 
native  place  Schilda  (now  generally  spelled  Schildau). 

So  off  I  started  for  Schildau,  which  lies  about  ten 
miles  south  of  Torgau  and  six  miles  away  from  the 
Elbe.  I  was  driven  in  an  open  peasant's  wagon  by  a 
citizen  of  Schildau,  who  proved  highly  entertaining.  In 
the  first  place,  he  taught  me  that  no  citizen  of  Schil- 
dau cares  to  have  it  known  where  he  belongs,  because 
throughout  Germany  the  term  Schildburger  (Schilda 
burgess)  carries  with  it  the  idea  of  municipal  stupidity. 
In  fact,  every  story  in  which  acts  of  peculiar  silliness 


SOMETHING    ABOUT   GNEISENAu's    EAELY    STRUGGLES     119 

occur  are  to  this  day  referred  to  Schildau  —  albeit  not 
one  person  in  a  thousand  could  find  the  place  on  the 
map.  Schildau  is  not  on  any  railway,  not  even  on  a 
highway  of  any  kind. 

A  citizen  of  Schildau  thought  it  a  pity  that  the  grass 
on  the  town  walls  should  not  feed  his  cow,  so  one  fine 
day  he  tied  a  rope  round  the  animal's  neck,  and  hauled 
her  up,  but  of  course  strangled  her  in  the  operation. 
Another  citizen  called  out  the  fire-brigade  one  night 
because  the  moon  was  reflected  from  his  windows  very 
brightly.  Another  citizen  blocked  the  gates  of  the 
town  for  several  days  in  trying  to  bring  in  a  long  piece 
of  timber.  The  town  council  were  debating  how  they 
might  accomplish  the  task,  when  a  tramp  from  the  next 
town  advised  them  to  carry  it  lengthwise  rather  than 
broadside  on  through  the  gate.  And  so  the  stories  run, 
each  more  silly  than  the  other — each  of  no  consequence, 
yet  in  the  aggregate  strong  enough  to  compel  young 
Gneisenau  to  deny  the  place  of  his  birth  for  fear  of 
incurring  constant  ridicule  at  the  hands  of  would-be 
wits. 

My  peasant  friend  knew  nothing  of  Gneisenau,  but  I 
found  my  way  easily  enough  to  a  house  on  the  main 
street  over  the  door  of  which  was  carved  in  stone  an 
old-fashioned  beer  mug.  This  was  the  sign  of  the  inn 
—Die  Goldene  Kanne — where  on  October  27, 1760,  just 
forty-six  years  before  Napoleon  entered  Berlin,  little 
baby  Gneisenau  was  born.  Gneisenau  was  not  his  name 
then ;  his  father  was  plain  Neidhart,  an  impecunious 
lieutenant  of  artillery,  serving  in  the  Austrian  army. 
Of  his  father  history  records  nothing  satisfactory,  and 
of  his  mother  we  know  only  that  she  ran  away  from 
her  father  and  mother  in  Wiirzburg  to  share  the  camp 
life  of  an  obscure  young  soldier  of  fortune. 


120  THE   GERMAN    STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

The  present  owner  of  the  Goldene  Kanne  showed  me 
a  room  on  the  ground  floor  where  the  future  hero  was 
born.  Two  small  windows  faced  the  street.  The  furni- 
ture was  modern.  In  fact,  Schildau  has  nothing  to  re- 
mind the  passing  stranger  of  Gneisenau. 

The  poor  mother  was  forced  to  fly  with  her  first-born 
almost  immediately,  for  the  Prussian  Frederick  occupied 
this  village  within  five  days  of  Gneisenau's  birth.  The 
christening  took  place  at  the  Goldene  Kanne  on  the 
very  same  day.  The  father  was  not  present.  There 
was  every  circumstance  to  depress  a  young  mother  at 
such  a  time. 

The  Protestant  pastor  at  Schildau  placed  his  church 
book  at  my  disposal,  on  the  occasion  of  my  visit,  and  al- 
lowed me  to  make  a  photograph  of  the  entry  —  which 
shows  that  most  of  the  transcriptions  I  have  seen  con- 
tain errors.* 

*  In  a  life  of  Gneisenau,  published  in  1856  by  the  chief  military  peri- 
odical of  Germany,  I  found  no  less  than  one  mistake  for  every  line  in 
the  transcription  of  this  memorable  document,  which  is  here  for  the 
first  time  accurately  rendered  : 

"August  Wilhelm  Antonius,  ein  S5lmlein  Herrn  August  Wilhelm 
von  Neidhart,  bey  der  zur  Reichsarmee  gehorigen  Artillerie  bestellte 
Lieutenants,  und  seiner  Gemahlin  Fr [space  left  for  the  moth- 
er's name],  ward  den  27.  October,  Vormittags,  gehohren  und  gegeu 
Abend  sogleich  im  Hause  getauft. 

"TESTES:  Herr  Antonius  von  Krumbach;  Maior ,  dessen 

Stelle  der  Pastor  M.  Daniel  Christian  Tittman  vertreten  ;  Fr.  Johan- 
na Regina  Rosina,  Herrn  Johann  Christovs  Wolffs,  Uhrmachers  in 
Torgau,  Eheliebste  ;  Herr  Johann  von  Restich,  Lieutenant  unter  dem 
kayserl.  Regiment  Altcoloredo  ;  Jgfr.  Hedewig  Erdmuth,  Herrn  Carl 
Heinrich  Heunens,  Stadtschreibers  und  Rechts-Consulentes  in  Schil- 
dau, jlingste  Tochter,  und  Herr  Elias  Thomas,  General  Axcis  Ein- 
nelimer  in  Schildau." 

Translation  :  "  Augustus  William  Anthony,  a  little  son,  was  born  in 
the  forenoon  of  October  27th  [1760],  to  Mr.  Augustus  William  von 
Neidhart,  a  lieutenant  of  artillery  belonging  to  the  Imperial  army  ; 


SOMETHING  ABOUT   GNEISENAu's   EAELY   STRUGGLES     121 

As  this  parish  register  is  all  that  speaks  for  Gnei- 
senau  in  his  tenderest  years,  it  is  most  precious.  The 
entry  states  that  a  son  is  born  to  Neidhart  the  lieu- 
tenant, "and  to  his  wife  .  .  .  ,"  leaving  a  line  blank 
for  the  insertion  of  her  name.  This  blank  shows  that 
the  clerk  did  not  know  her  name,  and  that  the  mother 
did  not  choose  to  publish  her  shame  in  the  house  of 
God. 

Another  notable  feature  of  the  entry  is  the  absence, 
not  merely  of  the  father's  name,  but  of  the  name  of  his 
regimental  chief.  Four  witnesses  are  recorded,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  pastor.  Of  these,  however,  only  one  is  a 
brother  officer,  and  his  rank  that  of  lieutenant.  The 
rest  are  probably  such  as  were  called  in  from  the  street 
in  order  to  give  a  species  of  solemnity  to  the  entry. 
Two  women  and  a  tax-collector  make  up  the  list.  Thus 
was  little  Gneisenau  born  in  an  inn ;  he  was  christened 
by  people  who  knew  neither  the  name  of  his  mother 
nor  the  regiment  to  which  his  father  belonged ;  even 
this  entry  appears  never  to  have  been  seen  by  him, 
for  to  the  day  of  his  death  he  invariably  celebrated  as 
his  birthday  the  wrong  day  of  the  month. 

His  mother  had  to  fly  before  the  victorious  march  of 
Frederick  the  Great,  as  did  later  Queen  Luise  before 
Napoleon  —  and  both  were  winter  marches  in  bitter 
sorrow.  The  wagon  in  which  little  Gneisenau  started 
from  Schildau  broke  down  during  the  night,  and  the 


and  to  his  wife,  Mrs [In  recent  years  some  meddlesome  per- 
son has  interpolated  the  words  "nee  Mliller,  of  Wllrzburg. "]  The 
child  was  christened  towards  evening  in  the  house  where  it  was  born. 
Witnesses,  etc.,  etc.,  etc." 

The  von  before  Neidhart  was  inserted  obviously  out  of  courtesy, 
for  elsewhere  it  appears  that  Mr.  Neidhart  did  not  use  any  title  of 
nobility  until  his  son  became  an  officer  in  1780. 


122  THE   GERMAN    STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

worn-out  mother  was  helped  upon  a  peasant  cart.  Here 
she  lay  between  life  and  death,  holding  to  her  breast 
the  little  baby  boy  —  conceived  in  shame,  born  in  sor- 
row, and  dedicated  to  a  pauper's  career. 

But  in  that  dreadful  night  of  jolting  over  bad  roads 
her  little  strength  gave  way.  The  baby  slipped  from 
her  exhausted  arms,  and  was  picked  up  by  a  warm- 
hearted grenadier  just  as  an  artillery  piece  was  about 
grinding  it  into  the  mud. 

The  mother  died  in  a  few  days  from  the  birth  of  this 
child.  We  do  not  know  who  closed  her  eyes;  whether 
even  her  parents  were  informed  of  the  fact  that  they 
had  a  little  grandson. 

At  any  rate,  the  baby  was  handed  over  by  his  fa- 
ther to  some  people  in  a  village  through  which  the  de- 
feated Austrian  army  happened  to  pass.  A  small  sum 
of  money  was  given  with  the  child,  along  with  the  prom- 
ise that  the  father  would  soon  return.  The  money  was 
soon  used  up,  but  no  father  returned. 

Little  Gneisenau  knew  neither  mother  nor  father,  nor 
even  where  his  early  days  were  spent.  He  ran  about 
ragged  and  barefoot,  was  fed  upon  black  bread,  and  his 
foster  parents  tolerated  him  because  he  was  a  healthy, 
useful  lad,  who  could  watch  their  flock  of  geese. 

One  day  a  beggar  passed  the  little  goose-herd  and  asked 
him  for  a  piece  of  bread.  Gneisenau  had  none — had,  in 
fact,  nothing  to  give  save  a  prayer-book,  which  by  some 
strange  accident  had  been  left  with  the  child  along  with 
the  rest  of  the  mother's  scant  wardrobe.  The  child  of 
course  did  not  then  know  the  difference  between  the 
prayer-book  and  any  other,  and  so  offered  it  to  the  beg- 
gar, who  took  it  into  the  village  and  tried  to  exchange 
it  for  bread.  But  the  first  tradesman  to  whom  he  offered 
the  book  suspected  him  of  having  stolen  it,  seized  it,  and 


SOMETHING    ABOUT   GNEISENAU'S   EARLY   STRUGGLES     123 

brought  it  back  to  the  foster  parents,  who  rewarded 
Gneisenau's  generosity  by  a  cruel  flogging.  The  prayer- 
book  was  the  means  of  identifying  the  child's  grandfather. 

A  local  tailor  was  touched  by  the  cruel  treatment  poor 
little  Gneisenau  endured,  and  one  day,  at  his  own  ex- 
pense, set  off  on  a  long  journey  to  Wiirzburg  to  discover 
the  parents  of  the  mother  who  had  given  birth  to  a  son 
in  Schildau. 

Let  us  hope  that  the  tailor's  story  melted  the  hearts 
of  the  good  people,  who  no  doubt  heard  for  the  first 
time  the  sad  fate  of  the  daughter  whom  they  had  dis- 
owned. At  any  yate,  they  resolved  to  do  something  for 
their  goose-herding  grandson. 

So  one  fine  day  a  carriage,  more  grand  than  any  that 
Gneisenau  had  ever  seen,  drew  up  beside  the  goose-green, 
and  a  flunky  in  gorgeous  livery  told  the  people  that  he 
had  come  with  orders  from  the  grandparents  in  Wiirzburg 
to  bring  the  child  to  them.  The  little  ragged  goose-herd 
thought  he  was  playing  a  part  in  a  fairy  tale.  He  wanted 
the  flunky  to  sit  inside  the  carriage  while  he  climbed 
upon  the  box,  and  could  not  understand  that  so  showy 
an  individual  was  merely  a  servant,  while  he,  in  his  dirt 
and  rags,  was  a  person  of  rank  and  authority. 

The  fact  that  no  member  of  the  family  came  in  person 
to  look  up  the  little  grandchild  suggests  that  Gneisenau's 
rescue  was  dictated  rather  by  feelings  of  duty  than  by 
affection  for  a  daughter  who  had  brought  shame  upon 
them. 

In  Wiirzburg  his  life  was  not  happy.  He  was  sent  to 
a  Catholic  school,  for  his  mother  had  been  of  that  church, 
although  his  father  was  Lutheran.  In  after-years  he  re- 
called with  bitterness  that  his  Roman  Catholic  teachers 
had  outraged  his  childish  feelings  by  addressing  him  as 
"  Lutheran 


124  THE   GERMAN    STRUGGLE    FOR   LIBERTY 

We  are  seeking  for  some  trace  of  sunshine  in  the  early 
years  of  this  child,  and  find  nothing  but  sorrow.  His 
education  seems  to  have  been  in  the  hands  of  heartless 
and  narrow  -  minded  priests,  and  what  he  learned  was 
from  such  books  as  fell  in  his  way  by  happy  accident. 

Next  to  the  christening,  the  first  authentic  entry  re- 
garding our  hero  is  on  October  1, 1777,  in  the  books  of 
Erfurt  University,  where  his  name  reads :  Antonius 
Neithardt,  Torgaviensis.  This  entry,  like  that  other  of 
Schildau,  is  full  of  suggestion.  In  the  christening  the 
name  is  Neidhart,  showing  that  he  could  not  have  known 
of  this  register,  or  he  would  have  been  more  particular 
on  so  serious  an  occasion  as  that  of  becoming  a  student 
of  philosophy.  At  Erfurt  he  is  called  simply  Antonius ; 
at  Schildau  he  was  christened  August  Wilhelm  Antonius. 
There  is  no  suggestion  in  this  entry  that  the  young  stu- 
dent or  his  father  affected  noble  rank  or  had  ever  dreamed 
of  the  name  Gneisenau.  The  lad  was  not  quite  seven- 
teen years  old  when  he  entered,  and  did  not  remain  more 
than  a  year.  His  father  had  married  and  settled  here 
with  Gneisenau's  step-mother.  He  had  some  occupation 
as  civil  engineer.  But  we  have  no  evidence  that  either 
he,  his  wife,  or  their  children  ever  contributed  anything 
but  discomfort  to  the  young  student.  It  is  significant 
that  in  Erfurt  Gneisenau  did  not  live  with  his  father. 

In  1778  he  became  a  soldier  in  the  Austrian  army,  which 
was  then  preparing  for  war  with  Prussia.  But  the  war- 
cloud  passed,  the  troops  were  disbanded,  and  Gneisenau 
found  himself  again  without  money  or  employment. 

His  university  course  had  been  cut  short  probably  for 
want  of  money ;  but  short  as  it  was,  it  could  not  have 
failed  in  strengthening  for  good  a  character  so  singular- 
ly frank  and  receptive  as  young  Gneisenau's.  It  was 
then,  as  in  early  times,  when  Luther  lived  there  as  a 


ONKISKNAtI 

[From  llic  original  plaster  cast  ill  the  Uuuch  Museum  iu  Berlin.] 


SOMETHING   ABOUT   GNEISENAu's   EAKLY    STRUGGLES     125 

monk,  a  battle-ground  for  Protestant  and  Papist.  It 
was  at  the  centre  of  German  movement  in  letters  and 
politics,  and  here-  for  the  first  time  Gneisenau  was  able 
to  shake  off  the  unhappy  results  of  his  clerical  training  in 
Wiirzburg,  and  to  taste  of  the  strengthening  knowledge 
furnished  by  vigorous  men  of  liberal  training  in  north- 
ern Germany.  From  leaving  Erfurt  Gneisenau  became 
a  professional  soldier,  yet,  thanks  to  the  influence  of  this 
short  year  as  a  Torgaviensis,  he  preserved  throughout 
his  long  and  active  military  career  a  certain  breadth  of 
judgment  that  distinguished  him  from  the  average  man 
of  his  class. 

In  1780,  at  the  age  of  twenty,  we  first  hear  of  our  hero 
as  a  "  nobleman "  bearing  the  name  he  since  made  fa- 
mous. He  then  entered  the  service  of  a  petty  German 
prince  who  was  hiring  his  troops  out  to  George  III.  for 
the  purpose  of  quelling  the  revolutionary  spirit  in  the 
American  colonies. 

In  those  days  none  but  officers  were  considered  men  of 
honor,  and  only  a  "  noble  "  could  make  a  career  as  officer. 
The  young  citizen  of  Schildau  felt  therefore  constrained 
to  supplement  his  patronymic  by  von  Gneisenau,  a  name 
suggested  by  some  shadowy  connection  between  some 
member  of  his  family  and  some  castle  of  that  name  some- 
where. Fortunately  the  College  of  Heralds  was  not 
over-particular,  and  no  one  in  his  regiment  cared  to  raise 
the  question.  Gneisenau's  very  obscurity  was  his  best 
protection.  He  did  not  himself  know  when  or  where  he 
was  born  ;  there  was  no  one  to  tell  tales  about  him  ;  he 
was  bound  for  the  wilderness  of  the  New  World,  and  this 
step  was  to  be  a  totally  new  departure. 

Gneisenau  had  no  more  interest  in  the  questions  at 
issue  than  the  many  West  Point  graduates  who  have 
sought  active  service,  since  our  civil  war,  in  Egypt, 


126  THE   GERMAN    STRUGGLE    FOR   LIBERTY 

Turkey,  China,  or  South  America.  The  soldier  can  only 
perfect  himself  at  his  trade  by  constant  practice,  and 
must  take  employment  when  he  can  find  it.  From  the 
soldier's  standpoint  there  is  not  much  difference  between 
Steuben,  who  enlisted  under  Washington,  and  Gneisenau, 
who  went  out  in  the  pay  of  George  III.  Both  went  to 
get  practice  in  their  handicraft  and  as  much  salary  as 
possible.  Gneisenau  was  on  the  losing  side,  and  was  not 
heard  of ;  Steuben  had  better  luck,  and  is  now  quoted  in 
American  school-books  as  a  shining  example  of  disinter- 
ested patriotism. 

After  the  surrender  of  Yorktown  Gneisenau  returned, 
much  wiser  for  his  American  trip.  He  prepared  an 
exhaustive  paper,  setting  forth  the  modifications  he 
deemed  necessary  in  order  to  profit  by  the  lessons 
taught  in  the  American  war.  This  paper  earned  him 
the  reputation  of  being  a  dangerous  character,  and  the 
authorities  of  this  little  German  principality  looked 
askance  at  him. 

But  Frederick  the  Great  had  his  eye  on  this  young 
firebrand,  and  called  him  to  Potsdam.  He  was  well 
received,  and  in  1785  he  entered  the  Prussian  service, 
and  began  to  drill  the  light  infantry  in  skirmishing 
tactics. 

And  so  Gneisenau  became  definitely  a  Prussian.  He 
commenced  life  as  a  Saxon  by  birth,  for  Schildau  had 
not  then  passed  into  Prussian  hands.  His  school  years 
he  spent  in  Wiirzburg,  a  centre  of  Catholicism  in  south 
Germany ;  as  a  student  he  matriculated  in  the  princi- 
pality of  Mainz,  to  which  Erfurt  then  belonged ;  he  then 
became  Austrian  soldier ;  at  the  Peace  he  entered  the 
Army  of  Ansbach-Baireuth,  and  in  1785  he  for  the  first 
time,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty-five,  became  subject  to 
the  monarchy  in  whose  army  he  became  field-marshal 


SOMETHING   ABOUT   GNEISENAu's    EARLY    STRUGGLES     12? 

and  count.  Few  men  at  twenty-five  can  say  that  they 
have  shifted  their  citizenship  half  a  dozen  times. 

Frederick  the  Great  died  the  year  after  Gneisenau 
entered  his  service ;  and  with  him  died,  for  Prussia,  all 
hope  of  a  military  reorganization  in  the  sense  of  Gnei- 
senau. 

Ten  years  of  inactive  garrison  service,  marriage  at  the 
age  of  thirty-six,  then  ten  more  years  of  routine  military 
life,  and  at  last  we  reach  the  year  of  Jena,  1806.  Of 
these  twenty -six  years  as  a  soldier,  Gneisenau  spent 
many  in  bitter  want ;  his  resources  were  at  times  so  low 
that  in  cold  weather  he  lay  in  bed  because  he  could  not 
afford  a  fire.  He  had  apparently  very  bad  luck  through- 
out, as  though  Providence  meant  to  thwart  his  military 
ambition.  His  enlistment  at  Erfurt  was  followed  by  pro- 
found peace ;  he  sailed  to  America  just  in  time  for  another 
peace;  he  entered  the  Prussian  army  just  before  the 
great  King's  death ;  the  Prussian  wars  from  1792  to 
1796  did  not  call  his  company  out,  and  even  the  battle 
of  Jena  gave  him  no  chance  for  anything  but  a  trifling 
skirmish  four  days  before  the  great  event. 

Gneisenau  in  all  these  forty -seven  years  that  preceded 
his  appointment  as  military  governor  of  Colberg  had 
not  only  never  been  in  battle,  he  had  never  enjoyed 
any  regular  military  education,  in  the  modern  sense  of 
the  term.  What  he  knew  he  had  absorbed  from  obser- 
vation and  from  such  books  as  fell  in  his  way.  As  to 
professional  knowledge,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  he  knew 
less  at  the  age  of  forty-seven  than  the  West  Point 
cadet  in  his  second  year,  and  was  as  unprepared  for 
war  as  the  average  volunteer  officer  who  answered  the 
call  of  Abraham  Lincoln  in  the  American  civil  war. 

Let  citizens  who  love  their  country  ponder  the  life  of 
Gneisenau.  He  earned  the  gratitude  of  Germany  by 


128  THE   GERMAN    STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

leading  her  armies  to  victory  after  they  had  been  led  to 
defeat  and  shame.  No  man  is  the  worse  for  good  blood 
and  thorough  education  ;  but  disaster  is  sure  to  overtake 
a  state  which  holds  that  the  great  body  of  the  people  is 
insensible  to  patriotism,  courage,  and  civic  virtue.  The 
years  of  servile  torment  which  Germany  endured  at 
the  hands  of  Napoleon  after  the  battle  of  Jena  should 
make  this  lesson  precious  to  her,  as  to  all  free  peoples. 


XIY 

SCHARNHORST  MAKES  A  NEW  ARMY 

"Where  is  the  German's  fatherland? 
Name  me  at  length  that  mighty  land  ! 
'Where'er  resounds  the  German  tongue, 
Where'er  its  hymns  to  God  are  sung.' 
Be  this  the  land, 
Brave  German,  this  thy  fatherland  !" 

— Arndt,  "  Des  Deutschen  Vaterland." 

NAPOLEON  left  Tilsit  for  Paris  on  July  9,  1807,  de- 
lighted with  his  many  triumphs.  He  had  taken  from 
Prussia  all  her  land  west  of  the  Elbe ;  had  reduced  her 
population  from  ten  to  five  millions ;  had  changed  the 
Czar  Alexander  from  an  enemy  into  an  enthusiastic 
friend  ;  had  estranged  Russia  and  Prussia  by  giving  the 
Czar  parts  of  Poland  which  formerly  belonged  to  Prus- 
sia; he  had  offered  Frederick  William  many  personal 
slights,  and  had  capped  his  triumphs  by  receiving  Queen 
Luise  as  a  suppliant  and  sending  her  back  empty-handed. 

And  all  this  was  done  when  Frederick  the  Great  had 
been  dead  only  twenty  years.*  No  wonder  Napoleon 

*  On  July  20,  1807,  Hutchinson  reported  to  the  British  government 
that  he  had  in  vain  sought  to  discover  the  terms  of  the  Tilsit  treaty  ; 
that  the  Prussian  King's  minister  had  given  him  an  evasive  answer  on 
the  subject,  "and  says  that  the  conditions  of  the  treaty  are  so  degrad- 
ing to  Prussia  that  he  is  ashamed  to  give  them  to  the  world."  This  is 
the  testimony  of  a  friend,  for  it  was  this  same  Hutchinson  who  on 
January  28,  1807,  signed  the  treaty  of  peace  between  England  and 
Prussia,  England  paying  £500,000  by  way  of  subsidy. 
I.-9 


130  THE  GERMAN   STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

felt  that  his  destinies  were  guided  by  a  star  of  good 
fortune ! 

Alexander  left  Tilsit  for  St.  Petersburg  quite  as  happy 
as  Napoleon,  for  he  had  secured  an  alliance  with  France 
which  promised  him  the  conquest  of  India  and  anything 
else  he  might  covet  to  the  eastward.  The  official  papers 
of  Russia  made  the  people  rejoice  by  announcing  that 
their  Czar  had  added  largely  to  the  empire  by  annexing 
land  which  was  formerly  Prussian. 

Queen  Luise  left  Tilsit  for  Memel  with  a  broken 
heart.  She  had,  indeed,  suffered  as  only  a  highly  bred 
woman  can  suffer.  From  our  point  of  view  she  deserves 
our  sympathy  vastly  more  than  her  royal  husband ;  for 
she  had  endured  not  merely  all  that  he  had  endured,  but 
she  had  endured  him  into  the  bargain. 

The  treaty  of  Tilsit  left  Frederick  William  on  the 
throne,  but  left  him  hardly  means  enough  to  keep  it  in 
repair.*  He  was  called  upon  to  pay  a  war  indemnity 
amounting  ultimately  to  one  milliard  of  francs,  and  was 
told  that  so  long  as  it  remained  unpaid  Napoleon  would 
keep  his  troops  quartered  in  the  country.  Now  to  pay 
such  an  amount  of  money  was  wholly  out  of  the  ques- 
tion, and  Napoleon  knew  it.  He  did  not  wish  the  money 
paid  at  all.  He  much  preferred  to  have  his  troops  quar- 

*  In  the  London  Record  Office  is  a  despatch  from  Garlicke,  the  Brit- 
ish agent  at  Memel,  dated  August  26, 1807,  in  which  he  states  that  the 
King  of  Prussia  desired  of  England  the  loan  of  one  million  sterling — 
this,  too,  at  a  moment  when  Prussia  was  in  close  alliance  with  France 
against  England.  On  the  day  following  the  same  agent  reported  that 
Frederick  William  III.  entertained  the  notion  of  joining  Napoleon's 
Rhine  Confederation,  in  which  case  England's  million  would  have 
been  a  gift  to  Napoleon  rather  than  a  loan  to  Prussia.  Instances 
might  be  multiplied  to  show  that  in  these  dark  days  Prussia  lost  much 
support  because  of  the  dishonesty  of  her  professions  towards  friends 
as  well  as  enemies. 


ALEXANDKK   I.    OF    IUJSSIA 


SCHARNHOKST   MAKES   A   NEW   AKMT  131 

tered  in  Prussia  indefinitely,  thus  making  sure  that  no 
new  war  could  threaten  him  there.  These  troops  were, 
of  course,  available  in  the  event  of  war  with  Russia  or 
Austria ;  and  so  long  as  they  cost  him  nothing  to  main- 
tain, it  was  an  arrangement  highly  satisfactory  to  the 
French  treasury. 

So  the  Prussian  King  had,  in  1807,  two  alternatives 
to  face — either  to  remain  a  captive  in  his  own  kingdom, 
or  to  buy  his  liberation  at  a  price  he  knew  not  how  to 
pay.  He  could  not  go  back  to  Berlin,  for  all  that  part 
of  Prussia  was  garrisoned  by  Frenchmen.  He  could 
not  start  the  machinery  of  his  government  on  the  old 
lines,  for  so  much  of  it  had  been  smashed  that  it  would 
no  longer  work.  Prussia  might  have  earned  some- 
thing by  foreign  commerce,  but  Napoleon  forbade  any 
trade  with  England.  This  meant  that  he  should  trade 
with  no  one,  for  England  had  complete  control  of  the 
sea. 

The  situation  was  desperate  from  every  point  of  view, 
but  mainly  from  the  fact  that  there  was  no  money  to 
run  the  government,  and  no  sources  of  revenue  in  any 
way  adequate. 

It  was  only  when  the  Prussian  King  found  that  the 
Czar  had  deserted  him,  and  that  he  was  on  the  brink 
of  bankruptcy  or  abdication,  that  he  allowed  himself  to 
be  persuaded  into  something  like  a  reasonable  course  of 
action.* 

*  The  British  agent  in  Memel  wrote  on  November  9,  1807,  to  his 
government  that  after  Daru  had  made  a  demand  on  Prussia  for  the 
three  fortresses,  Stettin,  Kustrin,  and  Glogau,  a  treaty  was  about  to 
be  concluded  on  that  basis,  but  that  a  fresh  demand  came  from  Napo- 
leon for  Graudenz  and  Colberg, ' '  neither  of  which  had  fallen  in  the  war, 
that  Prussia  must  maintain  in  each  8000  French  troops  (equal  to 
40.000),  with  a  proportion  of  horses,  forage,  ammunition,  pay,  and 
clothing. 


132  THE   GERMAN   STRUGGLE    FOR   LIBERTY 

In  these  dark  days  succeeding  the  Peace  of  Tilsit  the 
distracted  and  humiliated  King  gave  his  sanction  to 
measures  which  six  months  before  he  would  have  treated 
as  revolutionary.  There  is  no  evidence  that  he  himself 
was  the  author  of  any  of  the  good  laws  passed  at  this 
time,  and  there  is  abundant  evidence  that  he  did  all  that 
was  possible  to  nullify  their  wholesome  object.  That 
Prussia  was  saved  from  complete  absorption  after  Tilsit 
is  owing : 

1.  To  Napoleon,  who  completely  exposed  the  rotten 
state  of  the  military  and  civil  administration. 

2.  To  Queen  Luise,  who  braced  her  husband  in  his 
moments  of  weakness,  and  who  united  about  her  the 
honest  and  capable  men  of  Germany. 

The  public  sentiment  of  Prussia  judged  better  than 
the  King's  courtly  advisers,  and  this  public  sentiment 
was  best  represented  by  two  men,  neither  of  whom  was 
Prussian  by  birth  or  education — Stein  and  Scharnhorst. 
Stein  abolished  serfdom  in  Prussia ;  Scharnhorst  created 

"This  demand  has  been  accompanied  by  an  estimate  of  the  expense, 
amounting  to  $11,000,000  annually. 

"The  whole  Prussian  army — I  am  supposing  the  former  establish- 
ment of  250,000  men— was  maintained  for  $17,000,000." 

Ergo,  France  demands  for  these  40,000  about  two-thirds  of  what 
Prussia  required  for  250,000,  "and  something  more  than  half  of  the 
actual  revenue  of  Prussia,  which  is  computed,  the  country  being  in 
her  own  hands,  at  $20,000,000. 

"But  this  is  the  military  demand  only.  To  these  $11,000,000  are 
to  be  added  about  $4,000,000  for  the  annual  discharge  of  the  contri- 
butions, and  $2,000,000  for  other  debts— total,  $17,000,000— and  leav- 
ing $3,000,000,  or  £600,000  sterling,  for  the  revenues  of  the  Prussian 
monarchy. 

"The  insolent  mockery  of  the  proposition  is  equal  to  its  cruelty, 
for  if  Prussia  accepted  the  terms  she  must  renounce  even  the  forms 
of  government.  The  Prussian  ministers  therefore  say  that  they  (the 
terms)  will  not  be  accepted,"— Record  Office  MSS.,  Garlicke  to  Can- 
ning. 


SCHARNHORST  MAKES   A   NEW    AEMY  133 

an  army  of  citizens.  Germans  cannot  feel  too  grateful 
that  in  such  a  crisis  appeared  two  men  who  loyally  sup- 
ported one  another ;  who  sacrificed  all  they  had  to  the 
country  of  their  adoption  ;  who  ignored  the  calumny 
which  their  enemies  prepared  for  them;  who  dared  to 
tell  the  truth  to  the  King,  and  consequently  never  lived 
in  courtly  favor. 

Stein  and  Scharnhorst,  the  statesman  and  the  soldier, 
both  believed  that  Prussia  could  be  regenerated  only  by 
calling  in  the  people  to  a  larger  share  in  the  government. 
Both  held  the  belief  that  the  monarch  is  strong  only 
when  he  is  supported  by  the  whole  people  instead  of  by 
a  privileged  class.  The  King  was  ready  to  acknowledge 
that  something  was  radically  wrong  when  his  officers 
became  bywords  for  cowardice  and  incapacity.* 

Here  is  a  picture  drawn  by  Scharnhorst.  It  is  that  of 
a  Prussian  general  who  held  a  conspicuously  high  com- 
mand in  the  war :  "  He  never  inspected  a  regiment,  never 
made  a  reconnoissance,  knew  nothing  of  the  outposts 
excepting  upon  the  map  ;  his  memory  and  mental  pow 
ers  were  so  feeble  that  he  was  unable  to  form  a  pict- 
ure of  geographical  features  and  the  relative  position  of 
troops.  In  campaigning,  of  even  the  mildest  kind,  he 
was  totally  incapable  of  taking  command  and  conduct- 
ing the  operaiions.  He  was  satisfied  to  take  the  opinion 
of  any  one." 

This  was  the  seventy-year-old  man  who  commanded 

*  The  extent  to  which  the  Prussian  King  trembled  at  the  sound  of 
Napoleon  is  reflected  in  the  despatches  of  Garlicke,  the  English  con- 
sul in  Memel.  On  November  25,  1807,  he  wrote  to  George  Canning : 
"  His  Prussian  Majesty  has  personally  requested  rne  to  leave  the  coun- 
try. 

"  At  this  moment," said  Count  Goltz  (the  King's  minister),  "Prussia 
can  assert  no  opinion  of  her  own.  She  must  adopt  those  of  France  !" 
—London  Record  Office  MSS. 


134  THE   GERMAN    STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

the  Prussian  contingent  at  Eylau,  and  there  were  plenty 
more  just  like  him.  Such  were  the  officers  who,  before 
Jena,  listened  complacently  on  the  Potsdam  parade- 
ground  while  the  commanding  general  uttered  these 
words :  "  Gentlemen,  the  army  of  His  Majesty  [Frederick 
"William  III.]  can  show  many  officers  fully  equal  to  Mon- 
sieur Bonaparte  /" 

A  week  after  Tilsit  (July  17,  1807)  Scharnhorst  was 
placed  at  the  head  of  a  military  commission  charged 
with  inquiring  into  the  state  of  the  army.  He  was  fifty- 
three  years  old,  had  just  been  made  major-general,  and 
was  trusted  by  the  King  because  he  had  helped  Bliicher 
in  rescuing  some  remnants  of  the  army  from  Jena,  and 
bringing  them  in  safety  over  some  two  hundred  and 
fifty  miles  of  dangerous  country. 

The  King  trusted  Scharnhorst,  but  did  not  like  him. 
He  had,  however,  no  choice.  So  Scharnhorst,  the  son  of 
a  Hanoverian  peasant,  found  himself,  in  1807,  sitting  in 
judgment  over  hundreds  of  Prussian  nobles,  who  had 
given  strange  proof  of  their  chivalrous  pretensions. 

Gneisenau  was  added  to  this  commission,  but  so  afraid 
was  the  King  lest  such  men  should  be  too  thorough  that 
he  always  managed  to  hamper  them  by  adding  members 
who  represented  the  old  army  traditions  and  a  dislike 
to  change.  The  matter  dragged  on  in  this  way  until 
Scharnhorst  and  Gneisenau  both  became  thoroughly  dis- 
gusted with  their  King's  behavior,  and  resigned. 

This  frightened  Frederick  William,  however,  and  he 
promised  solemnly  that  thenceforward  he  would  deal 
honestly  with  them.  So  at  last  (January  31, 1808),  after 
six  months  of  wasted  time,  the  commission  secured  a 
majority  in  favor  of  reform. 

Of  course  I  omit  the  tedious  details  which  filled  these 
six  months — the  intrigues  of  the  court,  the  vacillation 


SCHAENHOEST   MAKES    A   NEW   AEMY  135 

of  the  King,  the  angry  protestations  of  the  patriots, 
and  the  constant  efforts  of  Luise  to  keep  her  husband 
to  his  duty.  And  even  after  the  commission  had  a 
majority  in  favor  of  reform,  Scharnhorst  found  that 
the  King  took  no  direct  personal  interest  in  its  work, 
but  obtained  his  knowledge  of  its  proceedings  through 
an  adjutant,  who  persistently  misrepresented  the  views 
of  the  patriots.  Finally,  with  the  help  of  Stein  and 
Queen  Luise,  the  King  dispensed  with  this  hostile  in- 
termediary, and  on  May  1,  1808,  did  what  should 
have  been  done  at  the  outset  —  appointed  Scharn- 
horst to  the  task  of  explaining  the  Work  of  the  com- 
mission. 

Here,  therefore,  we  see  that  it  took  nearly  a  year  for 
the  King  to  make  up  his  mind  to  support  a  commission 
which  he  himself  had  created  for  the  express  purpose 
of  inquiring  into  the  administration  of  an  army  of 
which  he  was  commander-in-chief.  Nor  is  there  any 
evidence  that  the  King's  obstruction  was  dictated  by 
other  motives  than  preference  for  courtiers  and  aver- 
sion to  men  of  energy  and  honesty  like  Scharnhorst, 
Gneisenau,  and  Stein.* 

In  reading  the  life  of  Washington  I  used  to  imagine 
that  he  was  singularly  handicapped  in  his  command  of 
the  army  by  reason  of  the  Continental  Congress,  which 
wasted  precious  time  in  debating.  But  slow  and  weak 
as  that  Congress  was,  it  was  a  model  of  strength  and 
swiftness  compared  with  this  Prussian  monarch,  whose 
will  was  law.  The  citizens  of  a  self-governing  commu- 
nity can  gather  a  vast  store  of  political  courage  by 

*  Stein  once  wrote  of  Martin  Luther:  "Dr.  Luther,  thanks  be  to 
God,  has  made  the  approach  to  heaven  a  little  shorter  hy  ridding 
us  of  many  lord  chamberlains,  masters  of  ceremony,  and  door- 
keepers." 


138  THE   GERMAN   STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

closely  studying  the  ups  and  downs  of  Prussia  under 
Frederick  William  III.* 

Scharnhorst  now  undertook  to  collect  evidence 
throughout  the  army  regarding  the  behavior  of  the 
principal  officers  during  the  late  war.  Seven  generals 
were  condemned  to  death  for  cowardice  or  treachery — 
but  the  King  pardoned  them  all.  The  commission,  in 
so  far  as  the  King  was  concerned,  failed  to  punish  the 
men  whom  it  found  guilty.  But,  nevertheless,  it  did  a 
great  good.  It  purged  the  army  of  much  bad  stuff, 
and  when  the  war  broke  out  again,  in  1813,  only  two 
generals  received  commands  out  of  the  hundred  and 
forty-three  who  figured  in  1806 — and  one  of  these  gen- 
erals was,  of  course,  old  Blucher. 

Nothing  but  lack  of  money  could  have  made  these 
reforms  possible.  Napoleon  cut  down  the  Prussian  army 
to  42,000  men,  and  the  officers  who  had  found  places  in 
the  old  army  of  250,000  were  now  forced  to  look  about 
elsewhere  for  work.  Here  was  a  capital  excuse  for 
getting  rid  of  a  large  number  of  incapable  men,  and 
Scharnhorst  was  quick  to  discover  merit  in  those  who 
remained. 

Prussian  officers  in  general  had  treated  their  defeats 
with  some  philosophy  so  long  as  their  pay  continued 
and  the  hope  of  revenge  was  alive ;  but  when  the  ma- 
jority of  them  were  turned  adrift,  and  many  of  them 

*  The  German  General  von  Verdy,  who  was  on  Moltke's  staff  during 
the  Franco  -  German  war,  noted  the  difficulty  of  making  headway 
after  the  fall  of  Napoleon  III.  and  when  the  armies  of  the  French 
Republic  were  commanded  by  Gambetta.  It  took  only  about  four 
weeks  of  fighting  to  capture  Sedan  with  150,000  "regulars,"  but  it 
required  more  than  four  months  to  subdue  the  raw  levies  of  the  re- 
public, even  after  the  whole  of  the  imperial  army  had  been  shipped 
into  Germany  as  prisoners  of  war. — Verdy  du  Vernois,  Im  grossen 
Hauptquartier.  Berlin:  Mittler  und  Sohn,  1896. 


8CHABNHOKST   MAKES   A   NEW   ARMY  137 

had  to  earn  their  living  by  hiring  themselves  out  by 
the  day,  the  matter  assumed  a  more  serious  aspect.  So 
great  was  the  poverty  among  the  peasants  that  in  1808 
the  government  published  a  list  of  roots  and  herbs  that 
would  sustain  life.  The  price  of  food  was  high,  but  the 
wages  of  labor  low.  The  government  had  flooded  the 
country  with  a  vast  amount  of  paper  currency,  which, 
before  Jena,  was  accepted  at  par ;  but  after  the  war  so 
little  confidence  did  Prussia  induce  that  her  currency  had 
little  more  value  than  that  of  Jefferson  Davis.  General 
Boyen,  in  his  memoirs,  says  that  he  could  get  only  twent}r- 
eight  per  cent,  of  the  face  value  of  a  Prussian  govern- 
ment bond  in  1807,  and  that  under  the  most  favorable 
circumstances.  Officials  of  every  class  had  to  be  dis- 
missed on  the  score  of  economy,  and  those  that  were 
retained  had  to  accept  reduced  salaries.  So  poor  was 
the  country,  and  so  black  the  prospect,  that  timeservers 
left  the  King,  and  thus  made  an  opening  for  men  who 
loved  their  country. 

The  King  over  and  over  again  refused  his  sanction  to 
a  national  militia  with  universal  service.  As  we  shall 
see,  he  dreaded  it  as  a  revolutionary  measure.  But 
Scharnhorst  and  Gneisenau  never  let  the  matter  rest, 
and  prepared  the  ground  for  it  so  thoroughly  that  when 
the  King  finally  did  give  way,  a  nation  in  arms  sprang 
up  at  his  call  as  though  by  magic. 

What  Scharnhorst  did  accomplish  with  the  commis- 
sion was,  however,  most  important.  The  principle  was 
adopted  that  army  promotion  should  be  strictly  the  re- 
ward of  merit — that  nobles  and  commoners  should  be 
equally  entitled  to  become  officers.  This  seems  a  very 
easy  law  to  pass,  but  in  1807  the  bulk  of  the  Prussian 
army  regarded  this  measure  as  calculated  to  destroy  ev- 
ery vestige  of  good  in  her  corps  of  officers. 


138  THE    GERMAN   STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

Another  law  was  signed  more  willingly,  namely,  that 
the  soldier  should  not  be  flogged  for  every  offence,  but 
should  be  treated  humanely.  This  measure  called  forth 
universal  condemnation  amongst  the  old-school  officers. 
They  foresaw  calamity.  They  would  not  understand 
how  men  could  be  ke'pt  in  order  without  flogging 
them.  Soldiers  were  flogged  for  every  offence  imagina- 
ble, and  we  have  but  too  many  witnesses  to  prove  that 
officers  of  that  day  could  treat  their  soldiers  with  cruelty 
equal  to  that  which  is  chronicled  in  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin. 

Scharnhorst  wished  to  make  the  army  popular,  and  to 
do  this  he  had  to  make  it  a  career  open  to  every  citizen 
of  good  character.  How  could  a  lad  be  expected  to  en- 
list as  a  volunteer  in  an  army  where  the  privates  were 
regarded  as  beasts  and  the  officers  as  taskmasters  ? 

These  two  little  measures  were  signed  about  one  year 
from  the  Treaty  of  Tilsit.  They  were  very  simple 
measures  indeed,  but  from  them  have  come  all  the  sub- 
sequent army  reforms  which  placed  Germany  in  a  posi- 
tion to  fight  Napoleon  in  1813,  and  to  maintain  herself 
as  the  first  military  nation  down  to  our  day.  The  Ger- 
man army  is  strong  in  so  far  as  it  is  democratic  and 
draws  its  support  from  the  whole  nation.  In  so  far  as 
it  seeks  to  form  an  aristocracy  of  its  own,  it  reverts  to 
the  dangerous  position  it  occupied  before  Jena. 

Since  the  King  would  hear  nothing  of  universal  ser- 
vice, and  the  army  was  not  allowed  to  exceed  42,000, 
Scharnhorst  set  to  work  quietly  discharging  men  as  soon 
as  they  had  learned  their  duties,  and  filling  their  places 
immediately  by  others.  In  this  way  he  managed,  every 
month,  to  turn  five  men  out  of  every  company.  These 
were  not,  however,  lost  sight  of.  They  were  secretly 
looked  after  in  their  homes  by  officers  who  had  been 
nominally  retired,  but  actually  drew  small  salaries,  on 


KllKDKKH.'K    \VII.  1,1AM    III. 


SCHARNHORST   MAKES   A    NEW   ARMY  139 

the  understanding  that  they  should  reside  near  the 
places  where  they  were  needed,  and  should  drill  these 
reserve  soldiers  from  time  to  time. 

Here  was  the  simple  method  by  which  Prussia,  under 
the  very  noses  of  Napoleon's  spies,  developed  the  reserve 
forces  into  a  national  militia  capable  of  taking  the  field 
at  a  moment's  notice,  fully  equipped  and  commanded. 
This  could  never  have'been  accomplished  save  under  the 
pressure  of  the  Napoleonic  occupation,  which  roused 
amongst  the  people  so  much  hatred  against  France 
that  patriotism  was  kindled  where  it  had  scarcely  been 
known  before.  Scharnhorst  had  won  the  people's  con- 
fidence. The  soldier  was  no  longer  a  despised  creat- 
ure ;  he  had  become  a  citizen  representing  German  lib- 
ert}7".  He  was  now  as  popular  as  he  had  before  been 
shunned.* 

Prussia  soon  had  all  the  well-drilled  soldiers  she 
needed,  but  had  no  money  to  pay  for  muskets,  cannon, 
horses,  ammunition,  clothing,  and  the  many  costly  things 
needed  for  an  army.  But  Scharnhorst  set  to  work  me- 
thodically and  persistently,  and  soon,  little  by  little,  the 
losses  of  the  war  began  to  be  made  good.  Pikes  were 
seriously  treated,  and  an  infantry  was  drilled  in  their  use 

*  The  accompanying  cut  is  from  a  photograph  made  under  my  super- 
vision from  the  original  by  Rauch.  A  bronze  cast  of  this  stands  on 
the  Opera  Place,  Berlin.  Rauch  was  a  personal  friend  to  Gneisenau, 
and  had  abundant  opportunity  of  studying  him  in  Berlin  in  the  years 
1819-25,  when  Gneisenau  was  governor  of  the  capital.  Ranch  made 
this  statue  in  1853,  and  the  bronze  was  erected  in  1855.  Before  the 
Prussian  King,  Frederick  William  IV.,  was  satisfied,  Rauch  had  to 
make  seven  different  sketch  models  in  plaster,  six  of  which,  about 
twenty  inches  high,  are  now  in  the  Rauch  museum.  It  was  in  1819 
that  Rauch  returned  from  Rome  lo  take  up  his  residence  definitely 
in  Berlin,  and  it  may  be  assumed  that  he  was  a  frequent  visitor  of 
Gneisenau,  who  counted  amongst  his  friends  Schinkel  and  llegel  and 
the  leaders  of  science  and  literature. — P.  B. 


140  THE    GERMAN    STRUGGLE    FOR   LIBERTY 

so  long  as  no  muskets  could  be  got.  We  naturally  re- 
call Benjamin  Franklin's  suggestion  that  the  American 
troops  of  his  day  be  armed  with  bows  and  arrows  rather 
than  not  go  to  war.  Both  measures  emanated  from 
men  who  believed  that  a  people  fighting  -^or  its  inde- 
pendence cannot  be  conquered,  whether  its  weapons  be 
pikes,  muskets,  or  bows  and  arrows.  And,  strange  to 
say,  the  spirit  of  liberty  in  Germany  was  aroused  first 
amongst  the  people  who  joined  the  national  army  cre- 
ated by  Scharnhorst. 


XV 

SOMETHING  ABOUT    SCHARNHORST 

"Lieber  noch  eine   Schlacht  verloren,  nur  nicht  Scharnhorst."*  — 
Blilcher  to  Gneisenau,  June  29,  1813. 

SCHAKNHORST'S  character  was  so  pure,  his  aims  so  dis- 
interested, his  purpose  so  definite,  and  his  tact  so  infi- 
nite that  we  are  constantly  tempted  to  draw  a  parallel 
between  him  and  Washington. 

He  was  born  in  1T55,  about  fifteen  miles  northwest  of 
Hanover  town,  in  a  little  village  called  Bordenau,  too 
small  to  be  found  on  ordinary  maps.  He  died  in  1813, 
in  the  first  battle  of  the  war,  at  an  equally  inaccessible 
village  called  Gross  Gorschen,  where  I  could  find  no 
trace  of  any  disposition  to  honor  his  memory.  He  lies 
buried  in  Berlin,  in  the  so-called  Invaliden  Cemetery; 
a  place  ignored  by  travellers  in  general,  and  scarcely 
known  even  by  Germans.  It  was  on  a  beautiful  morn- 
ing in  August  that  I  made  my  pilgrimage  to  this  inter- 
esting spot.  I  was  quite  alone  during  the  hour  that  I 
spent  there,  and  was  told  that  very  few  people  come  to 
this  place.  Trees  waved  their  branches  over  his  monu- 
ment, which  is  in  every  way  worthy  of  the  man  whom 
it  seeks  to  honor.  It  is  a  massive  marble  block,  on  which 
lies  a  slumbering  lion,  cast  in  iron.  Graveyards  are  not 
often  interesting,  but  this  one  is  a  notable  exception. 

*  Translation  :  "Rather  have  lost  another  battle,  had  Scharnhorst 
only  been  spared." 


142  THE    GERMAN    STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

The  only  ancestor  of  whom  Scharnhorst  had  any 
knowledge  was  his  peasant  grandfather.  His  own  father 
behaved  somewhat  after  the  manner  of  Gneisenau's. 
He  courted  the  daughter  of  a  village  magnate,  who  gave 
him  a  flat  No  when  he  offered  himself  as  son-in-law. 

The  daughter,  however,  helped  matters  considerably 
by  presenting  the  would-be  son-in-law  with  a  child.  In 
consequence,  the  marriage  was  solemnized,  and  the 
first  born  in  lawful  wedlock  was  our  hero.  From  the 
standpoint  of  social  conventions,  there  is  little  choice 
between  the  mothers  of  Scharnhorst  and  Gneisenau, 
although  the  Hanoverian  peasant  had  the  advantage  of 
knowing  that  he  was  born  legitimately — as  the  little 
church  of  Bordenau  testifies  to  this  day. 

Like  Gneisenau,  Scharnhorst  had  a  rough  time  of  it 
in  childhood.  He  had  no  schooling  to  speak  of,  and 
spent  his  time  chiefly  in  driving  the  cows  to  and  from 
pasture. 

When  Scharnhorst  was  seventeen  years  old,  his  father, 
who  had  by  a  lucky  stroke  of  fortune  come  into  some 
property,  made  up  his  mind  that  one  of  his  children  at 
least  should  become  an  officer  and  thus  raise  the  whole 
family  in  the  social  scale. 

Now,  the  education  of  Scharnhorst  had  been  as  frag- 
mentary as  that  of  Gneisenau,  and  neither  could  pos- 
sibly have  passed  serious  examinations.  But  it  so  hap- 
pened that  the  reigning  grandee  near  by  had  indulged 
in  the  luxury  of  founding  a  German  West  Point  on  a 
tiny  island  in  the  midst  of  a  great  lake  not  six  miles 
from  Bordenau.* 

*  It  was  with  creat  difficulty  that  I  managed  to  get  upon  this  little 
island,  called  Fort  William  (WilMmsfest),  for  the  nearest  village  is 
five  miles  from  the  present  railway  ;  there  is  no  regular  ferry  to  the 
island,  and  the  good  peasant  who  finally  did  row  me  over  had  much 


SOMETHING    ABOUT  SCHARNHORST  143 

This  strange  little  "West  Point  was  founded  in  1770, 
and  ceased  to  exist  in  1777.  The  whole  island  is  scarce- 
ly as  big  as  a  modern  man-of-war,  and  nearly  the  whole 
surface  is  occupied  by  a  miniature  fortress.  There  is 
less  room  for  parade-ground  and  gymnastic  exercise 
than  on  an  Atlantic  steamer,  and  life  there  must  have 
been  singularly  dull,  even  to  a  peasant.  The  school 
died  with  its  patron ;  but  it  must  have  done  so  in  any 
event,  for  few  lads  could  have  survived  the  bad  sanitary 
conditions  of  this  highly  eccentric  place. 

This  island  school  had  difficulty  in  securing  twelve 
pupils,  and  no  doubt  to  this  eagerness  of  its  patron 
must  we  attribute  the  fact  that  so  ill-equipped  a  young- 
ster as  Scharnhorst  was  admitted  at  all. 

This  place  is  interesting  to  us  because  it  was  in  its 
day  not  merely  the  first,  but  for  many  }Tears  the  only, 
artillery  school  in  Germany.  The  patron  was  a  dis- 
tinguished soldier,  and  the  course  of  study  excellent 
and  very  practical.  Scharnhorst,  at  any  rate,  held  his 
military  Alma  Mater  in  grateful  memory,  and  within 
its  walls  one  is  shown  drawings  which  he  had  made  in 
his  cadet  days. 

The  formal  oath  of  allegiance,  which  he  signed  on 
entering  his  little  West  Point,  says  : 

"  I,  Gerhard  Johann  David  Scharnhorst,  about  to 
enter  the  artillery  and  engineer  corps  in  the  service 
of  the  Serene  Master  Lord  William,  ruling  Count  of 
Schaumburg,  noble  Master  and  Count  of  Lippe  and 
Sternburg,  Knight  of  the  Royal  Prussian  Grand  Order 
of  the  Black  Eagle,  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Armies 
of  His  Most  Faithful  Majesty  the  King  of  Portugal  and 
Algarbia,  as  well  as  the  Armies  of  His  Royal  Majesty  of 

trouble  forcing  his  big  flat- bottomed  boat  through  the  weeds,  which 
grew  luxuriantly  up  to  the  surface. 


144  THE   GERMAN   STRUGGLE   FOR    LIBERTi* 

Great  Britain ;  General  Field  Marshal  of  His  Princely 
Serenity  of  Brunswick-Liineburg — 

"Promise,  in  lieu  of  oath,  that  I  will  not  resign 
from  this  service  within  ten  years  from  the  date  of 
undertaking  its  obligations.  And  should  I  at  any  future 
time  resign  from  the  service  of  the  Serene  Master  Lord 
William,  ruling  Count  of  Schaumburg,  etc.,  I  promise 
never,  directly  nor  indirectly,  in  any  way  to  serve  against 
His  Serenity  and  his  territories,  or  against  such  powers 
as  the  said  master  may  have  as  allies,  or  who  may  be 
in  the  service  of  his  most  high  person." 

It  is  curious  that  the  name  of  Scharnhorst  appears 
three  times  on  the  same  page,  but  in  no  two  cases  is 
the  spelling  identical.  It  will  be  also  noted  that  while 
young  Scharnhorst  bound  himself  in  the  most  severe 
manner,  the  noble  patron  undertook  nothing,  and  in 
1777  turned  Scharnhorst  out  upon  the  world  without 
even  a  commission. 

However,  his  reputation  in  the  Wilhelmsfest  had  been 
so  excellent  that  he  almost  immediately  secured  a  com- 
mission in  the  Hanoverian  service,  under  a  general  who 
greatly  admired  Count  "William,  and  who  zealously 
sought  to  raise  the  standard  of  education  among  the 
younger  officers.  Scharnhorst  was  selected  to  teach  in 
nearly  every  branch  of  military  knowledge,  including 
mathematics,  drawing,  artillery,  fortification,  history, 
and  geography. 

The  American  war  was  then  going  on,  and  his  gar- 
rison was  in  the  way  of  the  German  regiment  that 
marched  to  fight  under  the  flag  of  England.  He  was 
in  a  good  position  to  hear  the  tales  brought  home  by 
fellow-officers,  and  was  quick  to  see  that  there  must  be 
something  wrong  in  Old -World  tactics  when  veteran 
troops  failed  to  hold  their  own  against  farmer  lads 


SOMETHING   ABOUT   SCHAKNHOKST  145 

fighting  as  volunteers  under  leaders  of  their  own  choos- 
ing. Scharnhorst  was  so  valuable  as  an  instructor  that 
he  could  not  be  spared  for  fighting  in  the  New  World, 
or  he  would  no  doubt,  like  Gneisenau,  have  embarked 
under  the  colors  of  George  III. 

In  1783,  while  the  grand  old  Frederick  was  still  alive, 
Scharnhorst  was  sent  to  South  Germany  and  Yienna  to 
make  a  report  on  artillery  schools.  On  the  journey  he 
made  some  notes  in  Prussia,  and  was  amazed  to  dis- 
cover that  Prussian  troops  could  fire  as  rapidly  as  six 
times  in  one  minute. 

In  1793  Scharnhorst  became  captain,  at  the  age  of 
thirty-seven,  and  made  his  first  campaign  against  the 
soldiers  of  the  French  Republic.  Here  is  what  he  wrote 
to  his  wife  after  the  first  battle  : 

"  May  God  grant  us  soon  peace !  I  am  not  made  to 
be  a  soldier.  I  can  bear  danger;  but  the  sight  of  inno- 
cent creatures  near  me  groaning  in  their  blood,  the 
flames  of  burning  villages  kindled  by  men  for  their 
amusement,  and  the  rest  of  the  barbarity  connected 
with  general  destruction  —  all  this  puts  me  into  rage 
and  an  unbearable  state  of  mind." 

These  are  strange  words  in  the  mouth  of  a  man  who 
had  been  already  twenty  years  apprenticed  to  the  art 
of  killing,  and  who  was  destined  to  lay  the  foundation 
for  a  military  system  which  has  converted  Europe  into 
one  vast  camp  of  war. 

This  inglorious  campaign  (1792-95)  had  precious 
lessons  to  teach,  but  few  were  ready  to  grasp  them. 
France  had  sent  half  a  million  badly  equipped,  badly 
fed,  and  badly  drilled  men  into  the  field  against  a  thor- 
oughly well  prepared  army  of  twice  that  number.  The 
population  of  France  was  twenty -five  millions,  that 
of  the  nations  allied  against  France  seventy-four  mill- 
I.— 10 


146  THE   GERMAN   STRUGGLE   FOR    LIBERTY 

ions.  The  French  were  "raw  levies,"  the  Allies  were 
"regulars";  yet  the  ragged  republicans  held  their  own, 
and  secured  an  honorable  peace-  after  three  years  of 
fighting. 

This  war  broke  out  only  ten  years  after  the  Peace  of 
Yorktown,  and  men  who  had  fought  at  Saratoga  and 
Trenton  were  again  in  the  ranks  during  the  battles  of 
this  war.  Scharnhorst  remarked  that  these  Hessian 
troops  who  had  learned  their  fighting  in  the  American 
war  were  vastly  superior  to  the  rest. 

But  unfortunately  for  Germany,  her  kings,  princes, 
and  ruling  men  generally  regarded  republics  as  so  thor- 
oughly wicked  that  no  reformer  dared  quote  republican 
example  in  preaching  the  new  art  of  war.  It  is  strange 
that  while  Scharnhorst  and  Gneisenau  both  thorough- 
]y  appreciated  the  lessons  taught  by  the  war  in  Amer- 
ica, there  is  no  evidence  in  their  communications  to 
the  King  that  such  a  war  ever  took  place.  Frederick 
William  III.  regarded  the  American  campaigns  as  of 
importance  equalling  but  not  exceeding  a  jungle  squab- 
ble between  two  handfuls  of  blacks  in  some  remote  part 
of  the  East  Indies. 

Nor  must  it  be  lost  sight  of  that  Napoleon  was  spared 
the  necessity  of  creating  an  army  when  he  returned 
from  Egypt.  He  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  troops 
who  had  learned  the  art  of  war  in  the  best  of  schools — 
three  years  of  fighting. 

In  1801  Scharnhorst  received  from  London  the  per- 
mission he  sought — to  leave  the  service  of  George  III. 
and  enter  that  of  Frederick  William  III.  This  step  shows 
us  conclusively  that  he  at  least  had  no  suspicion  of  the 
real  state  of  Prussia,  or  that,  if  he  had,  he  preferred  it 
to  that  of  Hanover.  After  Jena  there  were  very  many 
wise  soldiers  to  explain  how  it  all  happened ;  but  it  is 


SOMETHING    ABOUT   SCHARNHOKST  147 

odd  that  up  to  the  eve  of  the  catastrophe  not  even 
Gneisenau  or  Scharnhorst  saw  what  was  coming.  They 
disapproved  of  many  things  in  detail,  but  of  course  no 
one  but  the  King  was  in  a  position  to  inspect  the  whole 
machinery  of  the  army  and  say  what  was  or  was  not 
wanting. 

Scharnhorst  was  relieved  of  his  Hanoverian  allegiance 
without  a  single  mark  of  regret  from  above.  Two  vears 

O  v 

afterwards  the  French  took  charge  of  the  place,  and  thus 
fixed  their  troops  in  the  heart  of  North  Germany,  with- 
in two  days'  marching  from  Magdeburg,  five  from  Ber- 
lin, seven  from  Stettin,  next  door  to  Denmark,  and  sepa- 
rated from  Sweden  only  by  the  duchy  of  Mecklenburg. 

This  was  a  menace,  not  to  any  one  German  state  in 
particular,  but  to  all  of  them.  Germans,  at  this  stage 
of  Napoleonic  development,  began  to  forget  their  local 
jealousies  and  quarrels,  for  they  were  face  to  face  with 
an  enemy  who  menaced  them  all  alike.  Prussia,  as  the 
big  brother  of  the  North-German  family,  was  looked  to 
for  assistance  and  leadership,  but  Frederick  William  III. 
had  not  the  courage  or  political  sense  to  do  his  duty. 
Can  we  be  surprised  that  even  Germans  were  dissatis- 
fied with  a  definition  of  monarchy  that  required  them 
to  surrender  the  proud  position  they  had  held  under 
Frederick  the  Great  ? 

So  long  as  the  French  fought  for  their  country  and  for 
liberty  they  had  the  sympathy  of  Germany.  But  when 
Napoleon  showed  that  his  object  was  to  subjugate  the 
nations  he  conquered,  and  to  win  mere  military  glory, 
Europe  took  alarm.  Patriots  in  every  corner  of  Ger- 
many ceased  to  be  Saxon,  Mecklenburg,  or  even  Prussian 
—they  began  to  use  the  word  German  as  belonging 
to  a  common  fatherland.  They  dreamed  of  a  German 
federation — a  German  empire.  Scharnhorst  ceased  to  be 


148  THE   GERMAN   STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

Hanoverian ;  Gneisenau  ceased  to  be  Austrian  or  Sax- 
on; both  became  not  merely  Prussian,  but  intensely 
German. 

It  was  this  patriotic  belief  in  the  regeneration  of  Ger- 
many that  kept  Scharnhorst  and  others  hard  at  work 
developing  the  military  resources  of  Prussia  at  a  time 
when  Prussians  themselves  had  almost  ceased  to  hope. 
In  1808  the  finances  were  so  bad  that  Scharnhorst  and 
Stein  seriously  entertained  an  offer  to  send  three  or  four 
thousand  mercenary  troops  to  Spain,  and  they  would 
have  gone  had  not  the  Spaniards  concluded  they  could 
get  on  without  further  help. 

The  war  in  Spain  strengthened  still  further  Scharn- 
horst's  confidence  in  popular  armies.  From  beyond  the 
Pyrenees  came  news  that  Napoleon  was  harassed  by 
the  peasantry  to  such  an  extent  as  made  his  position 
in  the  peninsula  problematical.  Had  Prussians  fought 
after  Jena  as  did  the  guerillas  of  Spain,  it  is  safe  to  think 
that  Napoleon  would  never  have  succeeded  in  dictating 
peace  at  Tilsit. 

In  1809  Napoleon  was  once  more  engaged  in  a  war 
with  Austria,  and  the  Prussian  people  clamored  to  join 
their  kinsmen  fighting  on  the  Danube.  But  Frederick 
William  would  not  hear  of  it,  though  his  own  subjects 
could  not  be  kept  from  the  fight.  Even  the  Tyrolean 
peasants  showed  that  men  fighting  for  liberty  and  their 
homes  are  almost  invincible. 

Scharnhorst  was  tempted  in  1809,  by  an  offer  of  £800 
a  year,  to  come  to  England  as  Inspector-General  of  In- 
struction at  the  Royal  Military  College,  but  dark  as  the 
outlook  seemed  in  Prussia,  he  determined  to  stand  and 
fall  by  the  King  he  had  sworn  to  sustain. 

This  King,  in  1810,  was  ordered  by  Napoleon  to  dismiss 
Scharnhorst,  and  he  obeyed.  He  had  already  dismissed 


SOMETHING   ABOUT   SCHARNHORST  149 

Stein  and  every  one  else  whom  Napoleon  regarded  as  a 
German  patriot. 

But  Scharnhorst,  from  his  hiding-place,  still  kept  his 
eye  on  what  was  going  on,  and  conducted  the  administra- 
tion of  the  army  pretty  much  as  before.  In  that  year  the 
fighting  force  of  Prussia  numbered  only  22,000  men,  and 
the  cost  of  maintaining  it  was  less  than  six  millions  of 
tbalers,  or  about  four  and  a  half  million  dollars.  This 
is  the  smallest  army  a  Prussian  king  ever  had,  and  the 
comparison  with  the  present  military  budget  of  the  Ger- 
man empire  is  amusing  if  not  instructive. 

In  1810  Queen  Luise  died,  and  with  her  seemed  to  pass 
away  all  hope  for  Prussia;  for  in  1811  Napoleon  forced 
her  husband  to  place  the  Prussian  army  in  his  hands  for 
the  campaign  against  his  former  ally,  Alexander.  And 
while  Frederick  William  was  signing  away  his  country 
to  the  French,  Scharnhorst  was  on  a  secret  mission  to 
St.  Petersburg,  bearing  to  Alexander  vows  of  unaltera- 
ble friendship  from  the  Prussian  King.  On  May  llth 
he  wrote  to  Alexander :  "  Rest  assured  that  in  the  deal- 
ings between  myself  and  France  nothing  shall  be  under- 
taken against  Russia." 

On  July  16th,  same  year  (1811),  he  writes  again  to 
Alexander:  "I  voluntarily  bind  myself,  in  the  event  of 
a  war  between  France  and  Russia,  to  support  no  other 
cause  but  yours !"  All  the  while  he  was  negotiating 
with  Napoleon  a  treaty  pledging  Prussia  to  make  com- 
mon cause  with  France  in  an  invasion  of  Russia. 

As  late  as  this  year  he  rejected  again  every  proposal 
for  a  national  Prussian  army,  and  the  recruiting  was 
done  by  the  same  clumsy  means  as  in  1792. 

Every  no\v  and  then  between  1806  and  1813  we  seem 
to  have  reached  a  point  below  which  no  nation  could 
possibly  sink,  yet  Frederick  William  somehow  or  other 


150  THE   GERMAN   STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

usually  managed  to  find  a  level  lower  still.  In  1811  lie 
obeyed  Napoleon  as  though  he  were  in  French  pay.  On 
September  26th  he  ordered  all  work  stopped  on  the 
forts  of  Colberg  and  Spandau.  On  October  7th  he 
obeyed  again,  and  ordered  the  disarmament  in  Prussia 
to  be  more  strictly  observed.  On  October  10th  Napo- 
leon ordered  him  to  dismiss  Bliicher  from  the  Prussian 
service,  and  it  was  done.  On  October  22d  the  King 
authorized  French  officers  to  make  a  formal  inspection 
of  his  garrison  and  forts,  in  order  to  satisfy  Napoleon 
that  his  orders  had  been  obeyed. 

Each  of  these  events  would  justify  a  nation  in  cele- 
brating its  anniversary  with  fasting  and  mourning — but 
they  were  too  many.* 

In  January  of  1812  French  troops  marched  into  Pom- 
erania;  in  March  15,000  more  marched  from  Magde- 
burg to  Brandenburg ;  on  the  5th  of  March  Frederick 
William  joined  his  20,000  Prussians  to  the  columns  of 
Napoleon,  and  the  French  army  swallowed  up  what  there 
was  left  of  the  armv  of  the  Great  Frederick.  Gneisenau 

«/ 

could  not  stand  this,  and  he  too  left  the  Prussian  ser- 

*Hutchinson  reported  to  his  government  from  Memel,  under  date 
of  January  9,  1807  :  "Count  (sic)  Stein,  the  only  man  of  real  talents 
in  the  administration,  resigned  or  was  dismissed  two  days  ago.  It 
seems  that  the  expenses  of  Bonaparte's  table  and  household  at  Berlin 
were  defrayed,  before  and  after  the  negotiations  for  an  armistice,  by  the 
King  of  Prussia.  Since  that  period,  I  believe,  not  many  days  ago,  one 
of  the  ministers  still  resident  at  Berlin  called  upon  Stein,  who  was 
Chief  of  the  Finances,  to  pay  300,000  crowns  on  the  same  account. 
Stein  refused,  with  strong  expressions  of  indignation.  The  King 
spoke  to  him  on  the  subject.  He  remonstrated  with  His  Majesty  in 
the  most  forcible  terms,  descanted  on  the  wretched  humiliation  of  such 
mean  conduct,  and  said  that  he  never  could  pay  money  on  such  an  ac- 
count unless  he  had  the  order  in  writing  from  His  Majesty — which 
was  given  a  few  days  after  this  conversation  took  place." — MSS.  Lon- 
don Record  Office. 


SOMETHING    ABOUT   SCHAKNHOKST  151 

vice.  Many  Prussians  sought  employment  against  the 
French  by  entering  the  army  of  Wellington ;  but  in  July, 
1812,  Frederick  William  sent  out  a  sharp  edict  against 
such  of  his  officers  who  should  dare  to  engage  against 
France — threatening  even  death  in  some  cases. 

Throughout  1811  Prussia  in  word  and  deed  acted 
as  a  conquered  province  of  France.  No  Prussian  was 
allowed  in  office  whom  Napoleon  did  not  desire ;  no 
measure  was  adopted  by  the  King  without  first  consult- 
ing the  French.  In  June  of  that  year  Napoleon  had 
78,000  men  and  3000  officers  quartered  in  Prussia,  and 
in  every  respect  used  her  exactly  as  suited  his  momen- 
tary purpose. 

But  on  October  19th  Napoleon  began  his  retreat 
from  Moscow.  The  news  reached  Berlin  on  November 
12th,  and  on  December  14th,  with  the  thermometer  fif- 
teen degrees  below  zero,  news  reached  Breslau  that 
Napoleon  had  passed  Glogau  in  his  flight  from  Russia 
to  Paris. 

And  now  Scharnhorst  threw  aside  his  mask. 


XYI 

THE  PRINCES  OF  GERMANY  PAY  COURT  TO  NAPOLEON 
AT  ERFURT 

"Let  all  that  glows,  let  all  ye  can, 

In  flames  surge  high  and  bright ! 
Ye  Germans  all,  come,  man  for  man, 

And  for  your  country  fight  ! 
Now  raise  your  heart  to  Heaven's  span, 

Stretch  forth  your  hands  on  high  ; 
And  cry  with  shouting,  man  for  man, 
Now  slavery  shall  die!" 

— Arndt,  "  Vaterlandslied." 

ALREADY,  on  January  14,  1808,  six  months  after  era- 
barking  on  the  raft  in  the  river  Memel,  Napoleon  sent 
word  to  Alexander  that  he  wanted  to  dismember  Prus- 
sia still  further — that  "  Silesia  is  the  only  compensation 
he  can  entertain"  (Champagny  to  Caulaincourt).* 

On  February  20th  the  Czar  sent  back  word  that  his 

*  Tolstoy,  the  Russian  ambassador,  had  an  interview  with  Napoleon 
on  November  7,  1807.  He  pleaded  that  the  Czar  desired  the  accom- 
plishment of  the  Treaty  of  Tilsit,  and  complained  that  Napoleon  did  not 
keep  his  word — did  not  evacuate  the  country.  He  painted  the  pitiful 
distress  of  Frederick  William  III.  Napoleon  became  angry,  and  said  : 
"  You  do  wrong  in  bothering  about  him.  You  will  see  him  play  you 
a  sharp  trick  yet."  He  promised  to  evacuate  the  country,  but  added  : 
"Such  things  cannot  be  done  in  a  hurry.  You  cannot  remove  an  army 
as  you  take  a  pinch  of  snuff. "  Napoleon  offered  Russia  the  Danubian 
principalities,  and  when  asked  by  Tolstoy  at  what  price  :  "Eh  bien  ! 
C'est  en  Prusse  " — that  he  would  find  compensation.  That  meant  that 
Russia  should  take  still  more  land  from  Prussia  ! 


PRINCES   OF   GERMANY   PAY   COURT   TO    NAPOLEON        153 

"  honor  "  would  not  allow  him  to  sacrifice  Prussia  any 
more.  "  Ces  gens  Id — those  poor  devils  over  there  keep 
writing  to  me,  importuning  me,  driving  me  to  despair." 
Thus  Alexander  referred  to  his  dear  friend  the  Prussian 
King  as  an  importunate  relative. 

"  They  are  not  able  to  get  a  square  meal ;  I  am  speak- 
ing literally.  .  .  .  You  wish  to  take  one  of  their  prov- 
inces. Will  you  release  them  then  from  the  war  contri- 
butions they  owe  you  ?  It  is  a  ruined  country." 

"We  note  here  that  Alexander  knew  the  full  extent  of 
the  misery  he  had  inflicted  upon  his  Prussian  ally  by 
deserting  her  at  Tilsit.  We  shall  see  later  that  he  ob- 
jected to  Napoleon's  absorbing  Silesia,  not  because  it 
would  be  unjust  to  Prussia,  but  because  he  feared  Na- 
poleon as  a  near  neighbor.  On  February  2,  1808,  Na- 
poleon sent  to  his  ambassador  in  St.  Petersburg  a  letter 
which  was  spread  in  part  before  the  Czar,  and  which 
gave  him  great  pleasure.  It  is  the  only  letter  of  Na- 
poleon's on  this  matter  that  has  come  down  to  us,  the 
reason  being  that  this  one  was  copied  into  the  Russian 
archives,  while  the  other  papers  in  the  embassy  in  gen- 
eral were  destroyed  at  Wilna  in  1812  to  prevent  their 
falling  into  the  hands  of  Prussia. 

"  Be  sure  to  tell  the  Czar,"  writes  the  Corsican  master 
of  falsehood, "  that  everything  that  he  wishes  I  also  wish  ; 
that  my  system  is  inseparable  from  his ;  that  we  can 
never  interfere  with  one  another,  because  the  earth  is 
big  enough  for  both." 

As  events  proved,  however,  this  earth  was  not  big 
enough  for  both.  Alexander  wanted  Roumania,  and 
Napoleon  wanted  Silesia.*  Each  thwarted  the  other's 

*  Napoleon  "demandait  .  .  .  que  la  Silesie  lui  f flt  cedee. "  —  Pas- 
quier,  i ,  331 — speaking  of  Erfurt. 


154  THE   GERMAN   STRUGGLE    FOR   LIBERTY 

wish.  Roumania  has  since  achieved  independence  under 
a  Hohenzollern,  and  Silesia  has  done  the  same. 

Napoleon  continued  his  tale  of  flattery  by  saying :  "  I 
am  not  far  from  contemplating  an  expedition  to  the  East 
Indies  and  the  partition  of  the  Ottoman  Empire.  And 
for  this  purpose  there  should  be  an  army  of  20,000  to 
25,000  Russians,  8000  to  10,000  Austrians,  and  35,000  to 
40,000  French  marched  into  Asia,  and  thence  into  India. 
Nothing  could  be  easier  than  this  expedition.  It  is  quite 
clear  that  before  this  army  reached  the  Euphrates,  Eng- 
land would  be  seized  with  terror." 

But  Napoleon  said  he  must  have  an  interview 
with  the  Czar  before  deciding  further.  That  is,  Napo- 
leon used  the  Indian  scheme  as  a  bait  to  draw  the 
Czar  to  him,  believing  that  when  once  together  with 
him  he  could  succeed  in  his  plans  for  dismembering 
Prussia. 

"  If  the  Czar  Alexander  can  come  to  Paris  he  will  make 
me  very  happy ;  it  will  be  the  happiest  day  of  my  life. 
If  he  can  come  but  half-way,  place  the  dividers  on  the 
map,  and  take  the  half-way  point  between  Petersburg 
and  Paris.  With  energy  and  firmness,  therefore,  we  will 
bring  our  two  empires  up  to  the  highest  level  of  gran- 
deur. .  .  .  What  matters  the  rest  ?" 

This  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  documents  in  his- 
tory— the  words  of  a  man  mad  with  success,  who  airily 
talks  of  dividing  the  world  as  thieves  share  their  booty. 
Not  one  word  in  the  letter  breathes  of  justice,  or  any 
higher  law  than  physical  force.  He  encourages  Alex- 
ander to  conquer  all  Sweden,  and  not  rest  content  with 
Finland  alone. 

Alexander  was  delighted  with  Napoleon's  programme. 
Instead  of  indignantly  protesting  against  the  French- 
man's constant  quartering  of  troops  in  Prussia,  he  wrote 


(1KNKHAL    SCIIAKNIIOKST 

[After  a  photograph  by  the  Author  from  the  bust  by  Kauch. 


PRLN'CES   OF  GERMANY    PAY   COURT   TO    NAPOLEON         155 

to  him  on  March  13, 1808,  a  letter  containing  such  words 
as  these : 

"  Monsieur  mon  frere, — Your  Majesty's  letter  of  Feb- 
ruary second  carries  me  back  to  the  days  of  Tilsit,  the 
memory  of  which  will  ever  remain  so  tender  to  me.  In 
reading  it  I  seemed  to  be  once  more  in  the  enjoyment 
of  the  hours  that  we  passed  together,  and  cannot  suffi- 
ciently express  to  your  Majesty  the  pleasure  they  gave 
me." 

In  reading  this  letter  we  must  bear  in  mind  that  Alex- 
ander was  at  the  same  time  protesting  ardent  affection 
for  the  Prussian  King,  at  whose  expense  he  and  Napo- 
leon had  been  enjoying  themselves  so  fully. 

"The  views  of  your  Majesty  appear  to  me  no  less 
glorious  than  just,"  continued  the  Muscovite  flatterer. 
"  It  has  been  reserved  to  a  genius  so  lofty  as  yours  to 
conceive  so  vast  a  plan.  ...  I  offer  you  an  army  for 
the  expedition  against  India,  and  another  to  assist  in 
seizing  and  holding  the  intermediate  posts  in  Asia 
Minor. 

"At  the  same  time,  I  am  writing  to  the  different  com- 
manders of  my  fleet  to  place  themselves  entirely  at  your 
Majesty's  orders."  In  the  midst  of  a  few  more  bits  of 
flattery,  the  Czar  names  Erfurt  as  the  place  of  meet- 
ing Napoleon,  only  two  weeks'  journey  from  St.  Peters- 
burg. "  I  am  looking  forward  to  that  meeting  as  to 
one  of  the  happiest  moments  of  my  life !" 

lie  adds  the  news  that  he  has  nearly  conquered  Fin- 
land— a  peaceful  country  which  never  did  him  any  harm 
— and  says  that  "  the  moment  cannot  be  distant  when 
England  too  will  have  to  bend  the  knee.  And  finally, 
my  brother,  I  pray  that  God  may  have  your  Majesty  in 
His  holy  and  worthy  keeping.  Your  Imperial  Majesty's 
good  brother,  Alexander." 


156  THE   GERMAN    STRUGGLE   FOR    LIBERTY 

So  these  two  imperial  highwaymen  started  from  their 
respective  capitals  to  meet  a  second  time.  Erfurt  has 
figured  before  in  this  story  by  reason  of  its  nearness  to 
Jena,  and  as  the  university  town  where  Gneisenau 
studied,  before  entering  the  Austrian  army  as  a  lad  of 
seventeen. 

Napoleon  went  to  Erfurt  because  he  felt  confident 
that  he  could  gain  control  of  Alexander  through  personal 
contact.  He  regarded  the  Russian  as  an  impetuous  and 
chivalrous  nature,  whom  he  could  readily  dazzle  by 
dreams  of  Eastern  conquest.  And  Alexander  pretended 
to  be  dazzled.  But  under  this  pretence  lurked  a  large 
amount  of  Oriental  cunning  quite  equal  to  that  of  the 
Corsican. 

Four  full-fledged  kings  and  several  dozen  princes,  who 
were  dependent  upon  Napoleon,  also  came  to  Erfurt, 
and  made  a  very  brilliant  picture  to  look  at.  Napoleon 
ordered  his  theatre  from  Paris,  and  promised  his  actors 
a  "parterre  of  kings."  Those  were  wonderful  days 
in  Erfurt  —  a  vast  display  of  power  for  the  purpose 
of  dazzling  Europe  in  general,  and  Alexander  in  par- 
ticular. 

A  Prussian  general  who  was  officially  present  (Muf- 
fling, page  25)  records  that  one  day  Napoleon  took  Alex- 
ander to  a  grand  review  near  Erfurt,  the  troops  parad- 
ing being  such  as  were  returning  to  France  from  the 
battle-fields  of  East  Prussia : 

"  Arrived  on  the  field,  Napoleon  put  spurs  to  his  gray 
and  galloped  down  the  front,  leaving  the  Czar  to  follow 
on  a  Napoleonic  horse,  with  much  the  appearance  of  an 
adjutant. 

"When  the  regiment  was  massed,  Napoleon  called 
out,  '  Les  braves  en  avant !'  (The  brave  men  step  for- 
ward !),  at  which  a  number  of  officers,  non-commissioned 


PRINCES   OF    GERMANY    PAY   COURT   TO   NAPOLEON        157 

officers,  and  privates  came  out  of  the  line  and  formed  a 
semicircle. 

"  Napoleon  dismounted,  and  invited  the  Czar  to  stand 
at  his  right.  On  his  left  stood  the  Prince  of  Neuchatel 
with  a  note-book.  The  remainder  of  the  semicircle  was 
closed  by  the  princes  and  their  suites. 

"  The  regimental  commander  called  each  one  by  name, 
and  presented  him  separately  to  Napoleon,  who  there- 
upon asked  him  where  and  in  what  manner  he  had  dis- 
tinguished himself." 

Now,  the  particular  regiment  selected  had  distin- 
guished itself  mainly  by  killing  a  great  many  of  Alex- 
ander's subjects  at  Friedland.  This  one  had  killed 
three  Russians  with  his  own  sword,  that  one  had 
captured  a  Russian  flag,  the  other  had  driven  a  Russian 
battalion  into  the  river  and  seen  them  drown,  and  so 
on  through  a  list  of  glorious  deeds  at  the  expense  of 
Russians.  The  Czar  had  to  listen  to  all  this  with  the  air 
of  one  who  rather  enjoyed  it;  but  he  remembered  this 
in  1812,  while  his  Cossacks  were  pursuing  half -frozen 
Frenchmen  from  the  Beresina  to  the  Memel. 

"To  the  honor  of  Frenchmen,"  wrote  the  Prussian 
general  who  was  present,  "  many  of  them  showed  that 
they  did  not  approve  of  their  master's  behavior." 

It  is  indeed  strange  that  Napoleon,  with  all  his  clever- 
ness in  diplomacy,  should  have  been  guilty  of  several 
conspicuous  acts  of  tactless  brutality  such  as  the  one 
above  recorded — brutality  by  which  he  lost  very  much, 
and  gained  nothing. 

For  instance,  during  these  Erfurt  days  he  invited  his 
royal  guests  to  shoot  hares  with  him  over  the  battle- 
field of  Jena.*  His  guests  were  mainly  German  princes, 

*  Talleyrand,  Memoires,  i.,  441:  "La  journee  commen^a  par  une 


158  THE   GERMAN    STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

and  not  men  of  much  character,  to  be  sure.  But  yet 
many  of  them  were  bound  with  ties  of  kinship  to  such 
as  had  suffered  on  that  battle-field  two  years  before— 
and,  after  all,  he  was  in  Germany,  and  that  field  had 
been  strewn  with  German  corpses.  And  yet,  which  was 
most  strange,  that  Napoleon  should  have  indulged  in 
such  sport,  or  that  German  princes  should  have  shared 
it  with  such  a  man  in  such  a  place  ? 

It  was  on  the  7th  of  October  that  Napoleon  drove  to 
Jena  in  1808.  The  battle  had  been  fought  October  14, 
1806.  On  the  hare -hunting  occasion  his  host  was  the 
Duke  of  Weimar,  who  had  been  a  general  in  the  Prus- 
sian army  on  the  day  of  battle.  On  this  occasion  he 
begged  the  French  Emperor's  permission  to  change  the 
name  of  Landgrafenberg  into  Napoleonberg — Napoleon 
Hill — for  on  that  hill  Napoleon  had  killed  most  of  the 
Prussians  who  fell  on  the  dreadful  October  14th. 

In  driving  to  this  field,  Napoleon  took  with  him 
in  the  same  carriage  a  brother  of  the  Prussian  King, 
Prince  William.  This  was  a  refinement  of  cruelty  su- 
perior to  that  he  had  practised  on  the  Czar.  Oddly 
enough,  it  was  this  that  saved  Napoleon's  life  in  1808. 

Two  Prussian  students  were  awaiting  the  carriage 
of  the  French  oppressor  in  the  road  leading  from  Wei- 
mar to  Jena.  They  had  armed  themselves  with  short 
blunderbusses,  were  well  mounted,  and  had  arranged  to 
ride  close  up  to  Napoleon  and  kill  him.  But  when 
the  carriage  came  in  view,  and  they  saw  the  brother  of 

chnsse  sur  le  terrain  d'lena  ;  ensiiite  il  y  cut  un  grand  diner,  etc.  ..." 
Talleyrand  makes  no  further  comment  on  this  brutal  affair. 

Pasquier,  i., 341,  notes  with  contempt  the  "incredible  obsequious- 
ness" of  the  German  princes  who  paid  court  to  Napoleon  at  Erfurt 
— chief  among  tbem  the  one  who  proposed  a  day  of  sport  on  the 
field  of  Jena. 


PRINCES   OF   GERMANY    PAY   COURT   TO    NAPOLEON        159 

their  King  in  it,  their  purpose  gave  way,  and  Napoleon 
escaped. 

And  yet,  in  the  eyes  of  Prussia,  who  was  the  more 
deserving  of  punishment,  Napoleon,  who  fought,  con- 
quered, and  oppressed  a  warlike  nation,  or  the  prince  of 
that  nation  who,  in  the  midst  of  that  oppression,  goes 
out  for  a  day's  shooting  over  the  battle-field  where 
German  liberty  was  lost  ? 

Napoleon  was  such  a  bad  shot,  however,  that  he 
nearly  accomplished  with  his  own  hands  what  the 
student  assassins  shrank  from.  "When  the  game  was 
driven  at  him  he  fired  right  and  left,  at  the  risk  of  hit- 
ting indifferently  a  king,  a  rabbit,  or  a  field-marshal. 
Luckily  for  his  suite,  they  had  been  provided  with  rifle- 
pits,  into  which  they  carefully  crept  when  their  master 
pointed  his  gun  in  that  direction. 

When  the  day's  sport  was  over,  and  it  was  reported 
that  none  of  the  guests  had  been  killed  or  wounded, 
the  master  of  ceremonies  gave  a  sigh  of  happiness,  and 
said,  "  God  be  thanked  for  His  mercy  !" 

When  young  Gneisenau  was  a  student,  Erfurt  was  a 
town  of  the  German  Empire,  garrisoned  by  Austrian 
troops.  After  Jena  it  received  a  French  garrison,  and 
therefore  in  1808  Napoleon  was  entertaining  the  princes 
of  Europe  within  his  own  territories,  and  at  the  very 
centre  of  Germany. 

Such  as  have  studied  Napoleon  closely  will  have 
noted  the  gradual  assumption  by  him  of  attributes  be- 
longing to  an  emperor  with  pretensions  far  beyond 
France.  On  taking  the  imperial  crown,  in  1804,  he  at 
once  set  about  copying  closely  everything  that  could 
revive  in  his  person  the  traditions  of  Charlemagne.  In 
Erfurt  he  was  therefore  not  merely  Emperor  of  France, 
but  Emperor  of  the  Germans  as  well. 


160  THE   GERMAN   STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

He  called  to  him  from  neighboring  Weimar  Ger- 
many's great  poet  Goethe,  and  accorded  him  an  audi- 
ence longer  and  more  intimate  than  he  had  vouchsafed 
to  many  a  royal  suppliant.  He  invited  him  to  Paris, 
and  mapped  out  for  him  new  fields  for  literary  effort. 
For  instance,  he  told  Goethe  that  the  character  of  Caesar 
had  not  yet  been  properly  done  for  the  stage ;  that  the 
poet  should  show  the  world  how  happy  it  might  have 
been  had  Caesar  lived  to  carry  out  his  vast  plans.  In 
other  words,  Monsieur  de  Gueute,  as  Napoleon  pro- 
nounced his  name,  was  invited  to  assure  his  German, 
readers  that  Napoleon  was  doing  the  very  best  thing  for 
Europe  by  ruling  it  after  his  own  fashion,  and  that  for 
any  nation  to  take  up  arms  against  France  was  more 
than  folly — it  was  rebellion  and  treason. 

Goethe  sneered  at  German  patriotism  from  an  honest 
belief  that  Napoleon  was  right  and  invincible.  He  may 
have  commenced  his  tragedy  of  Caesar  on  the  Napole- 
onic plan ;  but  if  he  did,  he  probably  felt  ashamed  of 
himself  when  its  great  prototype  melted  away  with  his 
army  and  his  imperial  pretensions. 

Napoleon  knew  that  Weimar  was  called  the  German 
Athens,  and  out  of  compliment  to  this  sentiment  allowed 
his  Parisian  players  to  give  there  a  performance  of  Yol- 
taire's  "  Caesar."  This  play  was  forbidden  in  Paris,  but 
could  do  no  harm  in  Germany,  thought  Napoleon,  who 
was  fond  of  saying  that  Germans  were  always  contented 
if  they  had  a  cellar  full  of  potatoes.  At  the  end  of  the 
first  act  these  words  are  put  in  the  mouth  of  Caesar, 
and  were  pointedly  spoken  by  the  great  Talma : 

"Aliens,  n'ecoutons  point  ni  soupcons  ni  vengeance, 
Sur  1'univers  soumis  regnons  sans  violence." 

These  words,  spoken  to  German  princes  at  the  centre 


PRINCES   OF   GERMANY   PAY    COUET    TO   NAPOLEON        161 

of  Germany  in  1808,  might  be  expected  to  recall  the 
murder  of  John  Palm,  of  Nuremberg,  and  the  daily 
acts  of  violence  towards  Prussia.  But  no.  The  audi- 
ence rose  as  one  man,  and  these  German  princes  gave 
their  master  a  round  of  applause. 

The  history  of  these  days  is  crowded  with  the  dra- 
matic doings  of  monarchs  of  all  degrees,  and  we  are  in 
danger  of  forgetting  that  there  lived  at  that  time  in 
Germany  many  millions  of  educated  and  patriotic  citi- 
zens who  did  not  rise  to  applaud  the  conqueror  with 
his  iron  heel  on  the  neck  of  their  country.  They  heard 
about  the  doings  at  Erfurt  as  honest  people  hear  of  vast 
fortunes  acquired  by  rogues  —  as  something  permitted 
by  an  inscrutable  Providence,  but  in  no  way  to  be  re- 
garded as  part  of  the  divine  scheme. 

In  every  hamlet  of  Germany  children  were  training  to 
prepare  for  the  coming  struggle,  which  was  to  determine 
not  merely  whether  Germans  are  one  people,  but  also 
whether  they  were  to  be  led  like  sheep  by  princes  who 
hatl  made  patriotism  a  term  too  vulgar  for  courtly  ears. 

Nor  did  the  people  of  Germany  know  a  tithe  of  their 
shame.  In  this  year  their  kinsmen  in  Austria  were 
arming  in  defence  of  their  independence,  and  Prussians 
clamored  for  the  right  to  help  them  against  the  common 
enemy.  One  Prussian  nobleman  went  so  far  as  to  pub- 
lish his  opinion  that  a  nation  has  a  right  to  fight  for 
independence  even  without  the  consent  of  the  monarch. 
He  was  promptly  sent  to  jail. 

Germans  did  not  then  know,  and  could  not  imagine  it 
possible,  that  their  king  had  pledged  Napoleon  not  only 
that  Prussians  should  henceforward  be  obedient  to  his 
will,  but  that  in  the  coming  war  against  their  own  flesh 
and  blood  on  the  Danube  they  should  furnish  an  army 
of  16,000  mercenaries. 
L— 11 


162  THE   GERMAN   STRUGGLE    FOR   LIBERTY 

The  first  time  that  I  visited  Erfurt  it  was  crowded 
with  the  wreck  of  the  French  army  of  the  Second  Em- 
pire. That  was  in  1870.  Twenty  years  later  I  was 
again  there.  A  German  emperor  was  entertaining  Ger- 
man princes,  and  a  German  army  was  under  inspection. 
But  the  German  princes  had  become  servants  to  a  Ger- 
man constitution,  and  the  German  army  was  the  Ger- 
man people. 


XYII 

THE  FIRST  BREATH  OF  LIBERTY  IN  PRUSSIA— 1807 

"  Come  in  !    come  in  ! 
Stand,  comrades,  round,  and  lend  your  aid 
To  christen  now  the  bell  we've  made  ! 
Concordia  her  name  shall  be, 
In  bonds  of  peace  and  concord  may  her  peal 
Unite  the  loving  congregation's  zeal." 
— Schiller  (born,  1759  ;  died,  1805),  "Das  Lied  von  der  Glocke." 

IN  the  winter  of  1807  and  1808  Prussia  passed  through 
a  revolution  quite  as  refreshing  as  that  of  France  in 
1789,  but  without  shedding  one  drop  of  blood.  A  few 
months  brought  about  political  reforms  which  are  a 
blessing  in  Germany  to-day,  and  which  cause  every  lover 
of  liberty  to  honor  the  name  of  Stein.* 

This  great  man  was  not  Prussian,  but  from  the  Rhine 
province  of  Nassau.  He  was  an  aristocrat,  a  free  baron 
of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire,  and  he  hated  shams.  Like 
Scharnhorst  and  Gneisenau  and  Bliicher  and  Harden- 
berg,  and  many  another  "  foreigner,"  he  had  made  him- 
self Prussian  because  he  believed  in  Prussia  as  the  chief 
state  of  Germany,  and  as  the  destined  nucleus  of  the 
great  German  Empire. 

*  "  God  made  him  [Stein]  a  man  of  stormy  nature,  one  fit  for  sweep- 
ing measures  and  upheaval  ;  but  the  Almighty  had  also  laid  in  this 
faithful,  brave,  and  pious  man  kindly  sunshine  and  fruitful  rain — for 
mankind  and  liis  people." — Arndt,  p.  60. 

Arndt  (p.  63)  regarded  him  as  one  peculiarly  fitted  to  lead  a  great 
p;.rliamentary  body. 


164  THE    GERMAN    STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

In  January  of  1807,  after  Jena,  but  before  Tilsit,  the 
King  dismissed  Stein  from  the  Prussian  service  in  these 
words : 

"...  I  was  not  mistaken  in  you  at  the  beginning. 
.  .  .  You  are  to  be  regarded  as  a  refractory,  insolent, 
obstinate,  and  disobedient  official,  who,  proud  of  his 
genius  and  talent,  far  from  regarding  the  good  of  the 
state,  guided  purely  by  caprice,  acts  from  passion,  and 
from  personal  hatred  and  rancor." 

These  words  were  as  unjust  to  Stein  as  they  would 
have  been  from  the  Continental  Congress  to  "Washing- 
ton or  Franklin. 

Stein  did  not  receive  even  a  formal  letter  of  dismissal. 
He  met  this  violent  explosion  of  temper  by  a  reply  of 
cold  defiance,  packed  up  his  trunk,  and  went  back  to  his 
estate  on  the  Rhine. 

The  King  was  a  Hohenzollern  through  and  through, 
painstaking  and  proud,  believing  in  the  patriarchal  form 
of  government,  and  dreading  nothing  so  much  as  an 
organized  public  sentiment.  He  wished  Stein  to  help 
him,  for  he  had  need  of  help.  But  Stein  would  not  ac- 
cept the  post  of  Prime  Minister  unless  the  King  dis- 
missed many  courtiers  whom  the  rugged  statesman  just- 
ly regarded  as  harmful  to  the  public  service.  And  so 
Stein  left  the  Prussian  service,  presumably  forever. 

But  in  less  than  six  months,  immediately  after  sign- 
ing the  shameful  Treaty  of  Tilsit,  this  same  King  was 
so  besieged  by  the  importunities  of  Queen  Luise  and  the 
best  of  his  court  that  he  begged  Stein  to  return  and  take 
charge  of  Prussia  according  to  his  own  terms. 

We  of  to-day  readily  see  the  reasons  why  the  King 
should  recall  his  excellent  minister,  but  none  the  less  it 
must  be  reckoned  as  the  noblest  moment  in  the  life  of 
Frederick  William  III.  when  he  took  the  step  which 


FHIEDHICH    M'mvic;    JAIIN 


THE   FIKST   BREATH    OF   LIBERTY   IN   PRUSSIA — 1807       165 

publicly  acknowledged  the  wrong  he  had  done,  and 
which  showed  that  he  could  sacrifice  personal  feelings 
to  the  welfare  of  his  country. 

The  King  did  not  like  Stein.  He  had  never  done 
so.  Stein  helped  to  prepare  and  send  to  the  King, 
before  Jena,  a  document  protesting  against  the  King's 
manner  of  governing.  Stein  believed  in  having  the 
people  represented  in  Parliament,  and  advocated  all 
manner  of  reforms,  which  the  King  deemed  revolu- 
tionary. 

Then,  too,  the  King  had  been  used  to  pliant  and  polite 
servants,  who  never  contradicted,  and  never  expressed 
opinions  opposed  to  those  of  their  master.  Stein,  on  the 
contrary,  found  very  little  to  praise  in  the  King's  prop- 
ositions, and  very  many  things  which  he  severely  cen- 
sured. But  though  the  King  disliked  Stein,  as  he  dis- 
liked other  great  men  of  his  time,  he  still  came  to 
respect  his  talent  and  honesty  and  patriotism,  and  con- 
ferred on  him  almost  unlimited  powers. 

Queen  Luise  was  the  most  eager  to  get  Stein  once 
more  at  the  head  of  affairs,  for  she  had  an  instinctive 
appreciation  for  strong  men.  She  wrote  impatiently  to 
a  dear  friend : 

"  O  God !  why  hast  thou  forsaken  us  ?  Where  is 
Stein  ?  He  is  my  last  hope.  He  has  a  great  heart ;  a 
mind  to  grasp  everything;  he  may  find  means  of  de- 
liverance that  are  concealed  from  us." 

On  the  last  day  of  September,  1807,  Stein  reached 
Memel.  The  letter  from  the  King  had  taken  one  month 
in  reaching  him ;  he  was  ill  in  bed  with  fever,  but  im- 
mediately prepared  to  obey  its  summons.  He  did  not 
bargain  or  make  conditions;  he  felt  that  his  country 
needed  him,  and  that  was  enough. 

But  what  could  possibly  cause  Queen  Luise  to  write 


166  THE    GERMAN    STRUGGLE   FOR    LIBERTY 

in  so  desperate  a  strain?  Had  not  Napoleon  made 
peace  ?  Was  not  Prussia  once  more  a  sovereign  state  ? 

Stein  found  matters  much  worse  than  he  had  feared. 
Nominally  he  had  merely  to  raise  a  large  war  indemnity. 
But  practically  he  found  that  this  sum  was  vastly  larger 
than  Prussia  could  possibly  pay.  While  Stein  was  hur- 
rying from  Nassau  to  Memel,  a  letter  from  Napoleon 
was  on  its  way  to  Daru,  his  agent  in  Berlin,  saying : 

"My  sine  qua  non  is,  first,  150  million  francs;  sec- 
ondly, payment  in  valuable  commercial  goods ;  and  if 
that  is  impossible,  and  I  must  content  myself  with  the 
King's  promissory  notes,  it  is  my  intention  to  hold  the 
places  Stettin,  Glogau,  and  Kiistrin,  with  6000  men  as 
a  garrison  in  each  of  them,  until  these  bills  are  fully 
met.  And  as  these  18,000  would  occasion  me  addition- 
al expense,  it  is  my  intention  that  the  expenses  of 
pay,  provision,  dress,  and  board  of  these  18,000  men  be 
charged  to  the  King.  .  .  .  The  King  of  Prussia  has  no 
need  to  keep  up  an  army ;  he  is  not  at  war  with  any 
one.  .  .  ." 

Napoleon  then  went  on  to  say  that  in  case  these 
conditions  were  not  complied  with  he  would  not  with- 
draw his  troops  from  Prussia. 

Now,  King  Frederick  William  believed  at  that  time 
that  if  he  could  but  raise  150,000,000  francs,  say  thirty 
million  dollars,  his  troubles  would  be  at  an  end,  the 
French  would  retire  quietly,  and  he  might  then  have 
no  more  serious  task  than  paying  interest  on  his  na- 
tional debt. 

But  we  know  now  what  he  did  not  know  then. 
Napoleon  did  not  mean  that  this  indemnity  should  be 
completely  paid ;  but  he  did  mean  to  keep  Prussia  in  a 
state  verging  upon  bankruptcy  until  such  time  as  he 
could  arrange  to  reorganize  it  as  a  vassal  of  France. 


THE   FIRST   BEEATH   OF   LIBERTY   IN   PRUSSIA — 1807       167 

At  that  time  he  had  157,000  troops  in  Prussia  ;  add  to 
these  the  18,000  for  the  three  fortresses,  and  we  have 
175,000  French  soldiers  as  a  permanent  charge  upon  a 
state  whose  total  population  was  barely  five  millions. 

One  naturally  asks,  why  did  not  Napoleon  make  an 
end  of  Prussia  at  once,  since  he  treated  her  as  a  con- 
quered province  ?  He  certainly  would  have  done  so  had 
he  not  feared  to  lose  thereby  the  friendship  of  the  Rus- 
sian Czar.  That  Czar  cared  little  for  Frederick  William, 
but  he  had  a  keen  distrust  of  Napoleon,  and  insisted 
that  Prussia  should  remain  between  them  as  a  buffer.* 

Stein  now  had  one  of  those  grand  opportunities  which 
come  so  seldom  in  the  lives  of  great  men.  The  King  ad- 
mitted that  he  was  unequal  to  the  task  of  saving  his 
country — the  country  must  save  itself.  Stein  enjoyed 
in  these  days  such  powers  as  no  Prussian  minister  before 

*  The  French  ambassador  in  St.  Petersburg  had  been  persistently 
seeking  to  win  the  Czar  over  to  Napoleon's  wishes  for  the  dismember- 
ment of  Prussia.  The  Czar  as  persistently  rejected  the  advances  on 
this  subject.  He  feared  the  proximity  of  French  troops  apparently  as 
much  as  the  dishonor  of  breaking  his  word  to  Prussia.  In  the  course 
of  a  long  conversation,  repeated  by  Caulaincourt,  the  Czar  said  : 

"The  armies  of  Frederick  (the  Great)  which  came  to  attack  us 
started  always  from  the  line  of  the  Oder.  These  recollections  are  too 
recent,  Silesia  too  near,  and  that  line  too  offensive  to  permit  of  such  an 
arrangement,  even  if  there  were  no  question  about  that  poor  King  of 
Prussia,  in  whom  nobody  takes  any  further  interest.  For  my  part, 
I  keep  saying  to  all  about  me  that  you  do  not  evacuate  that  country 
(Prussia)  because  he  (the  King)  does  not  pay  up.  Is  that  all  that 
keeps  you  there? 

"Ambassador:  That  is  the  principal  reason  (laughing).  Your  Majesty 
will  permit  me  to  say  that  you  have  no  better  ones  for  remaining 
in  Wallachia.  But  this  remark  is  personal  to  me,  for  the  Emperor 
would  not  allow  of  a  doubt  concerning  the  intentions  of  your  Majesty. 

"  The  Czar  (also  laughing)  :  We  are  chatting  now.  I  like  to  be  ad- 
dressed frankly.  Your  language  was  not  so  bad." — Letter  of  Caulain- 
court to  Napoleon. 


168  THE   GERMAN   STRUGGLE   FOR    LIBERTY 

or  since  has  ever  had.  His  King  was  in  desperate  straits, 
and  was  prepared  for  heroic  remedies. 

Stein  turned  his  attention  first  to  the  millions  of  acres 
of  public  land  belonging  to  the  crown.  Here  was  a 
source  of  great  wealth.  The  land  must  be  sold,  he  said, 
and  the  proceeds  applied  to  paying  Napoleon. 

On  October  9, 1807,  Stein  made  the  King  of  Prussia 
sign  a  law  which  primarily  was  framed  for  the  purpose 
of  facilitating  the  transfer  of  land,  but  which  ultimately 
abolished,  once  and  forever,  the  feudal  system  of  serf- 
dom. 

Before  this  date  the  Prussian  peasant  was  almost  a 
slave.  He  was  forbidden  to  move  about  from  place  to 
place,  or  to  change  his  occupation.  He  belonged  to  the 
soil,  and  was  forced  to  perform  services  for  the  lord 
of  the  manor,  who  had  magisterial  powers  almost  un- 
limited. 

Stein  abolished  slavery  in  Prussia.  His  next  step  was 
to  make  his  freemen  fit  for  citizenship.  He  made  the 
King  sign  other  bills  which  recognized  the  principle  of 
local  self-government  as  applied  to  the  counties  or  prov- 
inces of  Prussia ;  and,  above  all,  he  made  the  towns  of 
Prussia  centres  of  constitutional  liberty. 

It  is  very  hard  for  us  to  picture  to  ourselves  a  state  of 
society  such  as  Germany  presented  before  Stein  set  his 
country  free.  The  King  governed  through  a  host  of 
paid  officials  who  had  no  further  interest  than  to  keep 
order  and  earn  their  pensions.  The  German  of  that  day 
knew  nothing  of  what  his  government  proposed  until  he 
read  of  it  in  an  official  proclamation.  He  could  take  no 
interest  in  public  affairs,  and  was  consequently  indiffer- 
ent to  political  changes. 

King  Frederick  William  III.  made  his  people  free  be- 
cause he  needed  money,  and  because  free  people  can  pro- 


THE    FIRST   BREATH    OF   LIBERTY    IN   PRUSSIA — 1807      169 

duce  more  than  slaves.  Towns,  villages,  and  county  con- 
ventions vied  with  one  another  in  voting  to  their 
distressed  King  money  which  slaves  could  never  have 
brought  together.  From  every  hamlet  of  Prussia  came 
a  warm  response  to  the  King's  words  of  trust,  and  for  the 
first  time  in  the  history  of  the  Prussian  monarchy  the 
plain  people  were  consulted  as  to  the  best  means  of  sav- 
ing their  country  from  extinction. 

Stein's  memorable  leadership  lasted  barely  more  than 
a  year.  In  September  of  1808  Napoleon  discovered  that 
he  was  a  patriotic  Prussian,  and  promptly  ordered  him 
dismissed  from  the  public  service  of  his  country.  His 
King  accordingly  dismissed  him  in  November,  and  in 
December,  1808,  Napoleon  declared  him  a  criminal,  and 
forced  him  to  fly  for  his  life. 

Such  was  the  career  of  the  greatest  benefactor  Ger- 
many has  had  since  Martin  Luther.  His  reforms  have 
been  a  blessing  to  his  country  from  the  day  of  their 
proclamation.  He  is  the  author  of  civil  liberty  in  Ger- 
many ;  he  was  preparing  the  way  for  a  national  Prussian 
constitution  when  he  was  dismissed  ;  and  his  guiding 
ambition  to  the  day  of  his  death  was  to  see  all  Germany 
united  under  a  federal  constitution  headed  by  a  German 
Emperor. 

The  revolution  which  Stein  accomplished  has  no  par- 
allel in  modern  history,  if  we  take  into  account  the  vast 
change  which  it  effected  and  the  happy  results  which 
have  followed.  The  liberation  of  the  negro  in  1863,  the 
emancipation  of  the  Russian  serf,  the  Japanese  revolu- 
tion of  1868,  and,  above  all,  the  great  French  Revolution 
— these  immediately  spring  to  our  memory.  But  none  of 
them  effected  such  sweeping  results,  or  left  so  few  mis- 
chievous traces  behind. 

Stein  had  no  mass-meetings,  no  newspapers,  no  con- 


170  THE   GERMAN   STRUGGLE    FOR   LIBERTY 

ventions,  no  party  politicians,  none  of  the  modern  ma- 
chinery associated  with  a  reform  bill.  He  was  not 
even  sustained  by  the  knowledge  that  any  considerable 
number  of  his  fellow-countrymen  cared  about  what  he 
was  doing. 

The  great  German  revolution  of  1807  was  prepared 
and  completed  in  a  thoroughly  business-like  way.  Prac- 
tical men  of  affairs  were  consulted ;  experts  were  sum- 
moned to  give  evidence ;  and  when  Stein  finally  called 
upon  his  King  for  the  royal  signature  he  had  in  his 
hands  a  bill  prepared  on  strictly  business-like  lines,  and 
not  mutilated  by  the  conflicting  demands  of  political 
party  leaders.  This  bill,  which  gave  Germans  their  first 
taste  of  constitutional  government,  was  adopted  much 
as  though  it  had  been  a  change  of  time-table  submitted 
to  the  directors  of  a  modern  railway  company. 

Those  who  can  recall  the  many  years  of  popular 
agitation  which  preceded  the  English  reform  bills,  the 
adoption  of  free  trade,  the  emancipation  of  our  negroes, 
or  any  other  measure  affecting  the  pecuniary  interests 
of  a  large  class,  can  readily  imagine  the  strong  opposi- 
tion Stein  had  to  encounter  in  1807,  when  he  came 
to  fight  against  the  whole  of  the  Prussian  landed  aris- 
tocracy. These  besieged  the  King  with  petitions  ;  they 
intrigued  at  court ;  they  accused  Stein  of  being  revolu- 
tionary ;  they  predicted  the  ruin  of  the  Prussian  mon- 
archy. And,  moreover,  they  used  the  very  arguments 
which  carried  weight  with  a  King  who  detested  democ- 
racy and  innovation. 

But,  fortunately  for  Germany,  the  pressure  of  Na- 
poleon was  an  argument  stronger  than  any  which 
Stein's  enemies  could  bring  forward.  And  the  Germans 
who  glory  in  their  constitutional  liberty  should  be 
grateful,  not  merely  to  the  great  Stein,  but  also  to  the 


THE    FIRST   BREATH    OF   LIBERTY    IN   PRUSSIA — 1807      171 

greedy  Corsican,  who  forced  the  King  of  Prussia  into 
such  straits  that  he  could  choose  only  between  ruin  and 
reform. 

We  shall  see  more  of  Stein  in  coming  years.  He 
passed  for  the  moment  into  exile.  But,  though  twice 
in  two  consecutive  years  dismissed  from  the  Prussian 
service,  he  remained  the  centre  of  all  German  hope  of 
liberty.  He  kept  in  touch  with  the  patriots,  and  fanned 
the  hatred  of  Napoleon  into  a  flame  that  was  soon  to 
burst  out  with  unexpected  power.  He  was  one  with 
Scharnhorst  and  Gneisenau  in  preaching  that  every 
school  train  up  German  children  in  the  feeling  that  no 
education  was  worth  anything  that  did  not  lead  directly 
to  liberating  the  fatherland  from,  the  domination  of 
France. 


XVIII 

PRUSSIANS  BECOME  REBELS  TO  THEIR  KING,  AND  DIE 
FOR  THEIR  COUNTRY 

"Oh,  welcome  death  for  Fatherland! 
Whene'er  our  sinking  head 
With  blood  be  decked,  then  will  we  die 
With  fame  for  Fatherland." 

— Klopstock  (born,  1724';  died,  1803),  "  Heinrich  der  Vogler." 

ON  the  28th  of  April,  1809,  the  commander  of  a  Prus- 
sian hussar  regiment  marched  his  men  out  of  Berlin  as 
though  for  a  day's  sham-fighting.  When  they  reached 
the  open  country  near  the  village  of  Steglitz,  which,  by- 
the-way,  is  now  swallowed  up  by  Greater  Berlin,  he 
called  his  men  about  him,  and  proposed  to  them  to  go 
off  and  fight  Napoleon  on  their  own  account. 

This  cavalry  officer  was  named  Schill — the  same  Schill 
who  had  conducted  the  guerilla  warfare  against  the 
French  from  under  the  walls  of  Colberg  only  two  years 
before.  He  was  a  popular  hero.  Peasants  bought  prints 
of  him  to  hang  up  in  their  cottages ;  his  head  was  painted 
on  big  porcelain  pipes  and  on  beer-mugs.  To  the  people 
of  Germany  Schill  appeared  to  be  a  man  of  action,  who 
by  daring  enterprise  would  once  more  stir  up  ?  national 
spirit  of  resistance  to  the  great  French  tyrant,  and  make 
their  country  free.  In  December  of  1808  the  French 
had  evacuated  Berlin,  and  Prussian  troops  had  once 
more  taken  possession.  The  day  had  been  a  national 


ONE   OF   SCIIII.LS   FOI.UJWKKS 


PRUSSIANS    BECOME   REBELS   TO   THEIR   KING  173 

festival.  All  crowded  to  see  their  hero,  and  if  possible 
to  kiss  his  hand  or  some  portion  of  his  garment.  Berlin 
was  then  full  of  French  spies,  and  the  authorities  wagged 
their  heads  ominously  at  this  manifestation  of  patriotic 
unrest;  for  they  asked  themselves,  "What  will  Napoleon 
say  to  all  this  ?" 

But  Schill  was  not  a  politician.  His  trade  was  fight- 
ing, and  he  felt  that  the  present  condition  of  his  country 
was  unbearable  to  a  German  of  spirit.  During  the  win- 
ter months  he  had  been  besieged  by  patriotic  emissaries 
from  many  parts  of  Germany,  praying  him  to  head  a 
rebellion  against  the  French  —  a  popular  war.  Some 
proposed  to  depose  the  King  of  Prussia  in  case  he  did 
not  go  with  them.  But  Schill  was,  above  all,  loyal  to 
his  King,  and  could  not  dream  of  his  country  as  in 
other  hands  than  those  of  Frederick  William  III.  How- 
ever, he  was  given  to  understand  by  many  people  of 
influence  about  the  court  that  the  King,  in  spite  of  his 
nominal  alliance  with  Napoleon,  was  not  wholly  averse 
to  a  movement  for  deliverance  from  this  humiliating 
position. 

So  Schill  called  his  gallant  troopers  about  him  on  this 
eventful  day,  and  made  them  a  speech  that  sent  the 
blood  tingling  through  their  veins.  lie  told  them  that 
Napoleon  was  preparing  to  drive  their  beloved  King 
from  the  throne,  to  treat  Prussia  as  he  was  then  treat- 
ing Spain.  "  But  never,"  said  he,  with  impressive  force 
and  flashing  eyes — "  never  shall  the  faithless  tyrant  suc- 
ceed in  such  a  damnable  plan.  Austria  and  Germany, 
every  honest  heart,  rebels  at  the  thought.  And  shall 
we  Prussians  lag  behind  ? 

"  We  are  acting  for  our  country,  our  beloved  King,  for 
the  Queen,  whom  each  one  of  us  adores,  from  whom  I 
hold  here  in  my  hand  a  precious  gift.  For  her  we  are 


174  THE   GERMAN    STRUGGLE    FOR   LIBERTY 

prepared  to  fight  to  the  death  at  any  moment  she  may 
call." 

His  words'  were  greeted  with  enthusiastic  approval. 
He  had  not  said  that  he  moved  under  orders  from  the 
King,  but  his  language  left  the  impression  that  his 
movements  were  not  wholly  unconnected  with  some 
secret  plan  approved  in  high  quarters. 

Then  he  showed  his  troops  a  pocket-book  given  to 
him  by  Queen  Luise.  On  it  she  had  written  these 
words:  "  To  the  brave  Mr.  Schill"  This  confirmed  his 
people  in  the  honest  belief  that  the  cause  of  Schill  was 
not  merely  the  cause  of  their  country,  but  also  that  of 
their  King.  They  drew  their  swords,  gave  a  mighty 
hurrah,  and  swore  that  they  would  fight  and  die  for 
German  liberty  wherever  Schill  chose  to  lead  them. 

In  these  days  Austria  was  fighting  Napoleon  on  the 
Danube,  and  Schill's  idea  was  to  assist  her  by  making  a 
raid  in  Germany  in  the  neighborhood  of  Cassel,  where 
Jerome  held  his  court  as  King  of  Westphalia.*  Jerome 
had  been  bullied  by  his  brother  into  divorce  from  a 
beautiful  and  accomplished  young  lady  of  Baltimore, 
whose  crime  in  the  eyes  of  Napoleon  was  that  she  was 
a  republican  lass,  and  therefore  not  fit  to  sit  on  a- throne 
beside  the  brother  of  the  French  Emperor.  That  this 
French  Emperor  was  the  son  of  a  Corsican  attorney 
made  no  difference. 

Schill  expected  all  Germany  to  rise  at  his  call,  but,  as 


*  So  critical  was  the  situation  of  Napoleon  on  the  Danube,  and  so 
eager  the  desire  of  the  German  people  to  assist  Austria  in  her  fight 
against  him,  that  the  French  ambassador  in  Berlin  kept  his  travelling 
carriage  in  constant  readiness,  so  that  he  might  fly  at  a  moment's 
notice.  Not  that  the  diplomat  feared  the  officials  or  soldiers  of  the 
King — lie  was  in  dread  of  the  people,  who  threatened  to  follow  the 
example  of  Schill.—  Geheim-Staats-Archiv,  Berlin. 


PRUSSIANS   BECOME    REBELS   TO   THEIR   KING  175 

I  have  said  before,  Schill  was  a  soldier,  not  a  politician. 
The  good  people  of  Westphalia  despised  Jerome  for  the 
cowardly  and  cruel  manner  in  which  he  had  treated  his 
American  wife,  but  Napoleon  was  having  too  many 
successes  on  the  Danube  to  let  them  hope  that  they 
could  better  themselves  by  going  to  war. 

And  so  Schill's  enterprise  failed.  But  his  failure 
paved  the  way  for  the  great  things  that  followed,  for 
his  failure  was  glorious. 

Schill's  disappearance  from  Berlin  created  an  immense 
excitement  in  all  classes.*  The  authorities  tried  to  catch 
him  and  bring  him  back.  The  King  was  very  angry, 
and  sent  forth  a  decree  full  of  threats  f  against  rebels, 


*The  Chief  of  the  Berlin  Police,  Gruner,  under  date  of  May  13, 
1809,  reported  to  the  Prussian  King  that  many  officers  were  secretly 
leaving  Berlin  to  join  Schill ;  also  that  he  could  barely  keep  the 
towns-people  from  making  public  demonstrations  in  his  favor,  that 
they  were  perpetually  celebrating  alleged  victories  of  Austria  over  Na- 
poleon. Gruner's  reports  are  preserved  in  the  secret  state  archives  in 
Berlin. 

f  In  this  year  a  wide-spread  movement  was  started  in  Berlin  which 
gave  the  police  much  uneasiness.  It  was  a  conspiracy  to  overthrow 
the  government  and  rise  in  insurrection  against  the  French.  Four 
thousand  Berlin  citizens  were  at  one  time  reported  as  pledged  to  this 
purpose. 

"  Am  Sonntagden  30ten  d.  Mis.  liefen  das  siebente  und  neunte  5ster- 
reichische  Armee-Bulletin  hier  ein,  wonacli  die  Lage  dieser  Armee 
siegreich  und  gilnstig  geschildert  ward.  Das  Gerticht  davon  ver- 
breitete  sich  bald  in  der  Stadt ;  der  Jubel  war  allgemeiu.  Man  uber- 
lief  das  Hotel  des  k.  osterreichischen  Gesandten,  um  uJlhere  Data  zu 
erlialten,  und  war  im  frohlichsten  Tummel,  der  stets  einen  Ausbruch 
gegen  die  franzosische  Gesaudtschaft  besorgeu  liess.  Ich  veranstaltete 
geheime  und  offentliche  Beobachtungen,  und  Alles  lief  ruhig  ab." — 
(On  Sunday,  the  30th  April,  arrived  the  7th  and  9th  Austrian  Army 
Bulletin,  according  to  which  the  condition  of  that  army  is  favor- 
able and  victorious.  The  rumor  of  this  rapidly  spread  in  town  ;  jubi- 
lation was  universal ;  the  palace  of  the  Austrian  ambassador  was 


176  THE   GERMAN   STRUGGLE   FOB   LIBERTY 

but  the  people  prayed  for  his  safety,  and  a  week  after 
his  disappearance  another  body  of  Prussian  troops, 
numbering  156  men  and  four  officers,  left  the  capital  in 
secret  and  joined  the  patriot  rebels.  • 

Two  days  after  Schill  left  Berlin,  one  of  his  hussars 
who  had  been  left  behind  tried  to  follow  him,  but  was 
stopped  at  the  Brandenburg  Gate  and  turned  back. 
Hereupon  the  gallant  trooper  dashed  at  full  gallop 
(mit  verhangten  Zilgel}  towards  the  next  gate  in  the 
town  wall,  fired  off  his  pistol  as  he  sprang  past  the 
guard-house,  and  disappeared  over  the  fields  beyond  be- 
fore the  sentry  quite  realized  what  it  was  all  about. 
This  incident  was  deemed  worthy  of  special  mention  in 
a  report  made  by  the  Chief  of  Police,  for  it  made  great 
sensation  in  Berlin  at  the  time. 

The  Chief  of  Police  deemed  it  good  policy  to  encour- 
age the  popular  notion  that  Schill's  enterprise  was 
secretly  encouraged  by  the  higher  authorities.  In  case 
of  success  they  would  gain ;  if  he  was  unsuccessful  they 
might  then  disavow  him.  Dr.  Jameson's  raid  into  the 
Transvaal  in  the  winter  of  1895-6  furnishes  a  rough 
analogy. 

King  Jerome,  on  May  5tb,  pronounced  Schill  a  brig- 
and and  outlaw,  and  offered  10,000  francs  for  his  head. 
Schill  made  light  of  the  matter,  and  returned  the  com- 
pliment by  putting  a  price  on  the  head  of  Jerome — 
five  thalers,  about  three  dollars. 

But  Schill  did  some  good  fighting  before  his  country 
saw  the  last  of  him.  On  the  4th  of  May  he  reached  the 

overrun  in  order  to  learn  more  particulars.  The  people  were  ecstatic 
with  delight,  and  there  was  momentary  danger  of  an  attack  upon 
the  French  embassy.  I  ordered  police  supervision,  secret  as  well  as 
public,  and  all  passed  quietly). — From  tlie  confidential  report  of  the 
Berlin  Chief  of  Police,  May  2, 1809. 


PRUSSIAN'S    BECOME    REBELS    TO   THEIR   KING  177 

outskirts  of  Magdeburg  with  about  500  men,  of  whom 
50  were  infantry.  The  French  came  out  to  meet  him 
with  three  times  that  number.  They  had  no  cavalry, 
but  to  make  up  for  that  they  had  two  pieces  of  artil- 
lery. 

Magdeburg  became  French  after  the  Treaty  of  Tilsit, 
and  it  was  for  this  historic  Prussian  fortress  that  Queen 
Luise  had  pleaded  with  ISTapoleon,  her  eyes  wet  with 
tears,  her  voice  choking  with  emotion.  The  thought  of 
Magdeburg  once  more  German  inflamed  the  minds  of 
Schill  and  his  followers,  and  he  determined  to  do  his 
best  in  the  cause  of  a  prize  so  dear  to  his  Queen. 

But  first  he  sent  one  of  his  officers,  Lieutenant  Stock, 
to  see  if  he  could  not  win  over  the  Westphalian  troops 
by  speaking  to  them  of  the  common  fatherland.  The 
lieutenant  went  with  a  flag  of  truce,  but  was  promptly 
ordered  back  by  the  commanding  officer.  Young  Stock 
obeyed,  and  while  riding  back  was  killed  by  a  bullet 
from  the  French  lines. 

Schill  now  sounded  the  battle-call,  and  away  sprang 
his  men  with  hurrah  and  swinging  sabres,  thirsting  to 
avenge  the  death  of  the  brave  young  Stock.  They  cut 
the  enemy  to  pieces,  Schill  himself  cutting  down  the 
gunners.  They  took  160  prisoners  and  a  quantity  of 
flags  and  arms.  They  left  the  dead  piled  high  in 
squares  where  they  had  fought,  and  themselves  hurried 
westward  to  escape  the  expected  French  reinforcement 
from  Magdeburg. 

Schill  saw  now  that  it  required  more  than  a  regiment 
of  hussars  to  make  a  successful  insurrection.  He  felt 
that  his  only  hope  lay  in  reaching  the  Baltic  and  seek- 
ing shelter  on  board  British  men-of-war.  So  he  led  his 
men  towards  Stralsund,  a  famous  old  town  north  of 
Berlin,  opposite  the  island  of  liiigen.  Danes,  Dutch, 
I.— 12 


178  THE   GERMAN   STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

and  French  were  marching  against  him,  and  even  the 
Prussian  frontier  was  in  arms  against  him. 

It  was  a  forlorn  hope  that  Schill  was  leading,  for  the 
British  fleet  had  sailed  away  to  the  eastward,  and  he 
had  no  means  of  getting  word  to  its  admiral.  How- 
ever, there  was  just  the  bare  possibility  that  he  might 
sustain  himself  in  Stralsund  long  enough  to  effect  at 
least  an  honorable  capitulation. 

The  fortifications  of  the  place  were  so  feeble  that  the 
French  commander  marched  out  to  meet  him,  and  took 
up  a  strong  position  on  the  sluggish  Recknitz  "River, 
which  enters  the  Baltic  close  to  the  west  of  Stralsund, 
at  a  little  place  named  Dammgarten.  Here  the  French- 
men, supported  by  Polish  Uhlans  and  Mecklenburg  * 
riflemen,  waited  for  Schill,  who  arrived  on  May  24th, 
and  promptly  sought  to  cross  the  stream.  lie  engaged 
the  enemy  in  front  with  a  small  portion  of  his  force, 
while  the  rest  swam  their  horses  across  the  river  at  a 
point  lower  down,  and.  sweeping  round  in  a  broad  cir- 
cle, fell  upon  them  in  flank  and  rear.  The  battle  lasted 
four  hours,  and  ended  in  a  total  rout  of  the  French,  who 
left  600  of  their  force  as  prisoners,  together  with  34 
officers. 

Thus  Schill,  Avithin  thirty  days  from  leaving  Berlin, 
had  twice  met  largely  superior  French  forces  upon  their 
own  ground  and  gained  brilliant  victories.  The  King 
might  call  him  a  rebel,  and  officials  try  to  check  him, 
but  the  plain  people  everywhere  felt  hope  revive  when 
they  heard  what  Schill  and  his  plucky  men  had  done.f 

*  "  When  Napoleon  took  Berlin  after  Jena,  Prince  Isenburg  raised  a 
regiment  of  Prussian  volunteers,  to  whom  Josephine  presented  colors 
inscribed  '  Le  Premier  Regiment  de  Prusse.'" — Droysen,  Freiheits- 
kriege,  3d  ed.,  p.  209. 

f  As  lute  as  August  23, 1809,  the  Berlin  people  believed  that  Schill 


PRUSSIANS   BECOME   REBELS   TO   THEIR   KING  179 

Germans  began  to  think  that  if  their  soldiers  at  Jena 
had  been  led  by  Schill,  the  result  would  have  been  dif- 
ferent. Schill  showed  his  people  that  Frenchmen  could 
run  away  from  Germans  when  the  conditions  of  the 
fight  were  fairly  equal. 

Schill  lost  no  time  in  taking  advantage  of  his  victory ; 
he  arrived  under  the  walls  of  Stralsund  on  the  following 
morning,  May  25th,  and  was  received  by  the  fire  of 
artillery,  which  was  intended  not  for  him,  but  in  honor 
of  Napoleon's  having  entered  Vienna  on  the  13th  of 
May.*  The  news  had  taken  twelve  days  in  coming 
from  the  Danube  to  the  Baltic,  a  distance  of  only  about 
450  miles  air-line,  so  slowly  did  news  travel  then  in 
Germany. 

Schill  and  his  troopers  were  not  expected  to  take  part 
in  this  celebration.  It  was  of  course  assumed  by  the 
French  garrison  at  Stralsund  that  he  and  his  men  had 
been  captured ;  and  when  a  detachment  of  cavalry 
sprang  into  the  town  no  one  would  at  first  believe  that 
these  were  the  very  men  whom  they  were  looking  for. 
Into  the  middle  of  the  town  dashed  the  troop,  and  soon 

had  escaped  to  England  and  been  made  a  brigadier-general — so  iso- 
lated was  the  King's  capital  then. 

*  Napoleon  was  not  behind  the  petty  German  sovereigns  in  the  art 
of  manufacturing  spurious  popularity.  For  instance,  the  following, 
from  the  original  in  the  Berlin  secret  state  archives: 

"By  most  high  and  particular  order  [allerhvchsten  Specialbefehl]  of 
our  most  gracious  King  [of  Saxony],  the  whole  of  this  town  is  to  be 
illuminated,  in  order  to  celebrate  the  complete  and  great  Victory  of 
his  Imperial  and  Royal  Majesty  Napoleon  over  the  Austrian  Arms. 
All  the  Citizens  and  Inhabitants  here  are  therefore  notified  to  illumi- 
nate every  front  window  by  placing  lights  inside  of  them. 

"Landlords  are  to  note  this,  and  see  that  their  tenants  do  the  same. 

"LEIPZIG,  April  26,  1809. 

"  DKU  RATH  zu  LEIPZIG" 
[L.  S.]  (The  Common  Council  of  Leipzig). 


180  THE    GERMAN    STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

put  a  stop  to  the  Frenchmen's  celebration  by  capturing 
the  commander  of  the  artillery  in  the  public  square. 

Had  Schill  at  once  embarked  his  men  he  might  have 
saved  his  whole  command  by  landing  them  on  the 
shores  of  Sweden.  But  to  him  such  a  course  savored 
of  cowardice.  So  with  barely  1500  men  he  put  the 
walls  of  Stralsund  into  fighting  shape,  and  awaited  the 
enemy,  who  were  5000  strong,  made  up  of  Dutch  and 
Danes,  allies  of  Napoleon. 

They  stormed  his  walls  on  the  31st  of  May,  and  the 
end  came  as  might  have  been  foreseen.  It  was  a  gal- 
lant fight  against  tremendous  odds,  and  Schill  sold  his 
life  for  a  good  price.  When  the  enemy  had  battered  in 
the  town  gates,  and  all  hope  of  effectual  resistance  was 
gone,  Schill  gathered  a  troop  of  his  men  together,  and 
pointed  to  a  group  of  officers  who  were  directing  the 
operations  against  him.  "  Come,"  shouted  he,  "  let  us 
carry  our  hides  to  a  good  market";  and  with  that  he 
put  spurs  to  his  horse,  dashed  into  the  midst  of  them, 
and  cut  down  a  lieutenant-general  commanding,  while 
his  men  sabred  right  and  left  about  him.  As  though  by 
miracle  he  himself  was  unharmed,  and  wheeled  his  horse 
back  to  another  part  of  the  town  where  his  men  were 
still  making  a  stand.  On  the  way,  however,  he  passed 
a  fountain  where  a  good -hearted  Dutch  rifleman  was 
binding  the  wound  of  a  fallen  Prussian  hussar  of  Schill's 
corps.  Seeing  his  gallant  commander,  the  Prussian 
trooper  gathered  all  his  strength  together  and  shout- 
ed, "  Hurrah !  Schill !"  This  cry  of  encouragement  be- 
trayed Schill,  and  drew  upon  him  the  vengeance  of  his 
enemies.  They  did  not  fire  at  him,  for  they  believed 
him  invulnerable.  But  they  rushed  with  fury  upon  him 
from  all  sides,  attacked  him  with  sabre  and  bayonet, 
dragged  him  from  the  saddle,  mutilated  him  as  he  lay 


DEATH   OF   SCH ILL   IN   TIIK  MAKKET-I'LACK   AT   STRALSUND 


PRUSSIANS    BECOME    REBELS    TO   THEIR    KING  181 

in  the  street,  stripped  him  of  uniform  and  medals,  and 
then  exposed  him  as  a  monster.* 

So  died  Schill  for  his  King  and  his  country.  Schill 
achieved  the  glory  of  dying  in  battle,  though  the  King 
treated  his  memory  as  that  of  a  rebel,  and  ordered  his 
estates  confiscated.f  His  head  was  cut  off  and  sent  to 
Cassel,  to  be  laid  at  the  feet  of  the  French  King  of 
Westphalia,  Jerome  Bonaparte.  That  same  Cassel  was 
destined  to  be  the  prison  of  a  French  Emperor,  Napo- 
leon III.,  in  1870,  and  a  favorite  summer  residence  of 
a  German  Emperor's  family  to-day — so  strangely  does 
history  change.  Nor  is  it  without  interest  to  Americans 
that  the  splendid  palace  near  Cassel  was  built  by  a 
German  prince  who  secured  his  means  by  selling  Hes- 
sian soldiers  to  George  III.  of  England  for  the  war 
against  the  American  colonies,  and  that  subsequently 
this  princely  house  of  blood-brokers  was  itself  chased 
from  power,  and  Hessia  swallowed  up  by  Prussia. 

Schill's  body  was  buried  in  Stralsund,  and  was  for 


*  One  of  Schill's  hussars,  named  Lieske,  who  was  present  at  the 
time  of  his  death,  deposed  in  writing,  "on  the  word  of  an  honest 
man"  (mit  dem  Worte  eines  ehrlichen  Mdnnes  imd  durch  seine  Unter- 
nchrift),  that  for  two  days  after  his  death  his  body  was  exposed  (zur 
Schau  amgestellt)  in  the  house  of  a  barber  named  Schuckart  on  the 
Old  Market  (am  alten  Markt). 

In  the  night  Schill's  head  was  cut  off  in  the  presence  of  General 
Gratien  and  several  French  officers,  and  carried  away.  Lieske  de- 
posed that  the  body  was  buried,  but  he  did  not  know  in  what  spot. 
He  adds  that  the  courage  of  Schill  and  his  men  was  freely  acknowl- 
edged by  the  enemy,  of  whom  from  1200  to  1600  were  killed,  includ- 
ing 1  general,  2  colonels,  2  captains,  and  19  subalterns. — Prussian 
secret  archives. 

fOn  the  19th  of  August,  1809,  the  Berlin  Chief  of  Police  reported  to 
the  Prussian  Minister  of  the  Interior  that  he  had  forbidden  the  wear- 
ing in  public  of  a  medal  with  Schill's  face  on  it, because  it  "attracted 
too  much  attention"  (ein  uiiinunniyen  Aufoehcn  dadurch  erreyt  wird). 


182  THE   GERMAN    STRUGGLE    FOR   LIBERTY 

many  years  neglected.  His  head  was  preserved  at  the 
University  of  Leyden,  and  people  came  to  stare  at  it 
along  with  the  other  monstrosities  of  the  Natural  His- 
tory Museum.  Here  it  lay  until  1837,  when  a  band  of 
friends  in  Germany  finally  succeeded  in  having  it  brought 
to  Brunswick,  where  it  is  now  suitably  buried  in  the  soil 
of  the  country  for  which  he  nobly  died.* 

To-day  all  Germany  honors  the  name  of  Schill,  and 
his  grave  at  Stralsund  is  the  object  of  many  patriotic 
pilgrimages  from  all  corners  of  the  fatherland.  A  monu- 
ment was  erected  to  him  here  fifty  years  after  his  death, 
and  German  singing  societies  vie  with  one  another  in 
here  recalling  the  courage  of  him  who  revived  hope  in 
Germany  when  courage  had  come  to  be  regarded  as 
madness  and  patriots  were  branded  as  highwaymen. 

Some  of  SchilPs  companions  managed  to  make  their 
way  into  Prussia,  where  they  underwent  court-martial 
of  a  very  light  kind.  But  Napoleon's  men  captured  11 
officers  and  557  privates.  These  were  for  the  most  part 
wounded  in  the  hard  fight,  but,  notwithstanding,  they 
were  marched  off  to  Cassel  and  locked  up  in  the  com- 
mon jail  as  though  they  had  been  highwaymen.  King 
Jerome  sent  to  Napoleon  for  instructions,  and  of  course 

*Near  Stralsund  was  erected  a  pillar,  and  on  it  were  inscribed 
verses  in  memory  of  Schill.  The  government  subsequently  regarded 
these  lines  as  revolutionary,  and  the  pillar  was  removed.  I  quote  the 
last  verse,  as  the  only  one  that  could  possibly  have  disturbed  the 
political  mind  of  a  German  official  : 

"These  steps  are  steps  of  German  men, 
That,  when  the  tyrant  keeps  his  den, 
Come  crowding  round  with  midnight  tread, 
To  vow  their  vengeance  o'er  the  dead. 
Dead  ?    No,  that  spirit  brightens  still. 
Soldier,  thou  seest  the  grave  of  Schill  !" 

— After  a  translation  in  the  North  American  Review. 


PRUSSIANS   BECOME   REBELS   TO   THEIE   KING  183 

no  one  doubted  what  these  would  be.  The  privates  and 
non-commissioned  officers  were  to  be  set  to  hard  labor 
in  the  prisons  of  Cherbourg  and  Brest ;  the  eleven  offi- 
cers were  to  be  brought  before  a  military  court  and  shot 
within  twenty-four  hours. 

Napoleon  made  no  provision  for  a  trial ;  he  ordered 
them  shot  within  a  given  number  of  hours,  and  gave 
the  tribunal  no  powers  beyond  the  purely  perfunctory 
one  of  passing  formal  sentence.*  Thus  had  the  Duke 
of  Enghien  been  shot  in  1800 ;  thus  was  John  Palm  of 
Nuremberg  disposed  of ;  thus  would  the  grand  old  Stein 
have  died  had  the  police  caught  him  after  his  dismissal ; 
thus  was  murdered  the  noble  Andreas  Hofer ;  and  so 
died  eleven  brave  young  officers  who  had  obeyed  their 
commander,  believing  that  he  spoke  for  a  Queen  whom 
they  adored  and  a  King  whom  they  had  sworn  to  defend. 

It  was  on  the  banks  of  the  Rhine  that  this  bloody 
bit  of  Napoleonism  was  consummated,  at  the  ancient 
fortress  of  Wesel.  The  eleven  Prussian  officers  rep- 
resented names  famous  in  their  country's  history ;  the 
oldest  was  thirty-one,  and  the  youngest  only  eighteen — 
they  were  mere  boys,  just  old  enough  to  die  like  men. 

The  charge  against  them  was  read ;  they  were  pro- 
nounced guilty  of  highway  robbery ;  they  were  to  be 
shot  as  common  thieves.  They  were  manacled  two  and 
two,  and  like  a  gang  of  criminals  led  out  to  a  flat  mead- 
ow beyond  the  fortress  walls  to  the  shores  of  the  Lippe, 
which  here  flows  into  the  Rhine.  The  place  is  marked 
by  a  monument  to-day ;  so  is  the  spot  in  Braunau  where 
John  Palm  was  shot. 

*  On  October  27,  1809,  the  police  of  Berlin  stopped  the  performance 
of  a  popular  play  because  there  occurred  in  it  several  references  to 
Napoleon,  which  the  audience  naturally  utilized  for  purposes  of 
popular  demonstration. 


184  THE   GERMAN   STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

A  detail  of  French  soldiers  were  on  hand.  The  gal- 
lant young  patriots  embraced  each  the  other,  commended 
their  souls  to  God,  gave  a  cheer  for  their  King,  tossed 
their  caps  into  the  air,  drew  themselves  up  in  line  twelve 
paces  from  their  executioners,  and  then  looking  the 
Frenchmen  square  in  the  face,  called  out  the  word  of 
command,  "  Fire !" 

It  was  a  horrible  butchery  —  a  bunch  of  bleeding 
bodies  writhing  in  the  last  breath  of  life.  But  one  yet 
stood  erect.  It  was  a  youngster  of  twenty,  who  had 
been  wounded  only  in  the  arm.  In  the  midst  of  his 
slaughtered  comrades  he  stood,  patiently  awaiting  the 
second  volley.  But  soldiers  are  men  ;  and  the  execu- 
tioners glanced  at  their  commanding  officer,  pointed  to 
their  discharged  barrels,  and  hoped  that  this  young 
Prussian  might  be  pardoned. 

The  condemned  youngster  recognized  the  movement 

•/  O 

in  his  favor,  but  checked  it  at  once.  "  No  pardon !"  he 
cried.  "  Aim  better,  my  men !  Here  is  my  heart !  It's 
beating  for  my  King !" 

Three  French  soldiers  now  stepped  forward.  They 
had  loaded  their  guns  anew.  They  took  deliberate  aim, 
fired,  and — Napoleon's  will  was  done. 

That  all  happened  on  the  16th  of  September,  1809. 
Things  did  indeed  look  well  for  the  French  when  their 
Emperor  could  with  impunity  reach  out  his  hand  into 
any  corner  of  Europe,  seize,  imprison,  and  shoot  the 
subjects  of  a  sovereign  state,  and  be  called  to  account 
by  nobody  on  earth — at  least  for  the  present. 


XIX 

GERMAN  LIBERTY  TAKES  REFUGE  IN  THE  AUSTRIAN 

ALPS 

"  Sind  die  Tyroler,  ein  Volk  von  Schiltzen,  nicht  das  treueste  aller 
VOlker  ?  M5ge  denn  also  kunflig  jeder  Burger  bei  uns  ein  getibter 
Schiltze  sein."*— W.  v.  Burgsdorff,  June  24,  1813. 

NAPOLEON  spent  the  year  1809  in  fighting  Austria. 
He  did  not  require  much  time  to  get  the  better  of 
armies  commanded  by  grand-dukes  and  field-marshals 
of  sounding  title ;  but  to  conquer  the  peasants  in  the 
Tyrolean  Alps  was  a  serious  task,  for  he  there  fought 
not  against  a  Kaiser  and  his  courtiers,  but  against  a  peo- 
ple in  arms,  commanded  by  their  chosen  leader.  An- 
dreas Hofer  was  a  plain,  rough,  honest,  God-fearing 
peasant.  He  had  inherited  a  country  tavern  far  up  the 
Passeyr  Yalley,  near  his  birthplace,  St.  Leonard,  a  vil- 
lage about  ten  miles  above  Meran,  and  about  thirty-four 
miles  air-line  south  by  west  from  Innsbruck,  the  capital 
of  Tyrol.  Travellers  to-day  who  cross  the  Alps  in  going 
from  Berlin  to  Venice  see  from  their  seat  in  the  railway 
not  only  one  of  the  most  beautiful  bits  of  mountain 
scenery  to  be  found  in  Europe,  but  a  succession  of  places 
savagely  fought  over  by  Germans  and  French  when 
France  represented  tyranny,  and  the  cause  of  liberty 

*  Translation  :  "The  Tyrolese  are  a  nation  of  riflemen — are  they 
not  the  most  loyal  of  men  ?  Then  let  us  Germans  henceforth  become 
good  shots !" 


186  THE   GERMAN   STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

was  maintained  by  Alpine  peasants  fighting  for  the 
house  of  Hapsburg. 

The  first  official  proclamation  issued  by  Andreas 
Hofer  was  short  and  characteristic  of  the  man :  "  To- 
morrow, on  the  9th  of  April,  we  are  to  shoulder  our 
muskets  for  God,  Kaiser,  and  native  land.  Each  one  is 
called  upon  to  make  a  plucky  fight  of  it." 

Two  days  afterwards,  in  the  mountains  about  Hofer's 
home,  the  mountaineers  had  a  fight  with  Napoleon's  al- 
lies, the  Bavarians.  Hofer  had  never  learned  the  art  of 
scientific  warfare,  but  he  knew  how  to  fight  and  how  to 
win  battles.  With  a  sense  of  the  practical,  natural  to 
mountaineers,  he  made  a  zareba  of  hay  -  wagons,  and 
from  behind  this  simple  fortress  inflicted  such  damage 
upon  the  enemy  that  they  were  forced  to  lay  down 
their  arms.  It  was  a  grand  day  in  Tyrol  when  there 
marched  into  Meran  Napoleonic  "  regulars "  who  had 
surrendered  to  the  "minute-men"  of  Andreas  Hofer. 

On  fought  the  devoted  Tyrolese.  They  were  branded 
by  the  French  as  "brigands,"  but  their  consciences  were 
clean.  They  knew  that  they  were  obeying  the  orders 
of  their  dear  Kaiser  Franz.  That  Emperor  had,  on  May 
29,  1809,  assured  his  faithful  Tyroleans  that  he  would 
never  be  party  to  a  peace  that  did  not  make  Tyrol  for- 
ever a  member  of  the  Austrian  Empire.  These  simple 
peasants  believed  the  word  of  their  Emperor. 

Hofer's  great  influence  with  his  people  lay  largely 
herein,  that  in  the  year  previous  he  had  been  called  to 
Vienna  by  the  government  to  consult  on  the  best  means 
of  making  a  peasant  insurrection.  The  Emperor's  own 
brother,  who  was  looked  upon  by  the  Tyrolese  as  their 
particular  protector  at  court,  took  the  liveliest  interest 
in  Andreas  Hofer,  and  assured  him  and  his  fellows  that 
Austria  would  never  lay  down  her  arms  until  Tyrol  had 


GERMAN   LIBERTY   TAKES   REFUGE    IN  AUSTRIAN  ALPS    187 

regained  her  liberty  under  the  empire  of  the  dear  Kaiser 
Franz. 

One  must  have  lived  amongst  the  peasantry  of  the 
Austrian  Alps  to  appreciate  the  fierce  loyalty  of  these 
mountaineers  for  their  Kaiser,  their  saints,  and  their 
native  valleys.  The  men  who  followed  Ferdinand  Schill 
across  the  sands  of  Brandenburg  were  Lutherans,  who 
cared  little  whether  their  lot  was  on  the  banks  of  the 
Elbe,  the  Vistula,  or  the  Spree,  so  long  as  they  shared 
•with  their  fellow-Germans  a  common  liberty  in  political 
development.  With  the  Tyrolese  the  feeling  that  made 
them  heroes  was  purely  the  personal  loyalty  to  a  Kaiser 
Franz,  whom  they  looked  upon  as  a  species  of  protector, 
indissolubly  associated  with  the  Virgin  Mary,  Nepomuk, 
Florian,  and  the  other  images  which  the  traveller  sees  on 
every  road  and  every  mountain-path  of  that  beautiful 
country. 

The  childish  Tyrolese  faith  in  Kaiser  Franz  played  so 
important  a  political  part  of  the  great  war  of  1809  that 
it  deserves  particular  notice.  Hofer  probably  knew  as 
little  of  Prussia  as  of  Bunker  Hill,  and  had  he  been  told 
of  Schill,  he  would  have  crossed  himself  and  prayed 
God  to  keep  away  from  Tyrol  a  monster  who  was  not 
merely  a  wicked  Lutheran,  but  dared  to  fight  without 
orders  from  the  Lord's  anointed. 

When  Hofer  headed  the  Tyrol  insurrection  his  country 
was  a  province  of  Bavaria,  which  was  a  vassal  of  France. 
Bavarian  rule  had  been  established  only  three  years, 
and  during  these  years  the  Austrian  Emperor  had  never 
ceased  encouraging  in  Tyrol  the  idea  of  an  insurrection 
against  the  Franco-Bavarian  usurper.  The  mountaineers 
had  been  enrolled  into  a  militia,  after  the  pattern  of 
Switzerland,  and  this  was  very  easy,  for  in  the  Alps 
nearly  every  peasant  grows  up  accustomed  to  the  sport- 


188  THE   GERMAN   STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

ing-rifle,  and  is  as  well  prepared  to  take  the  field  as  the 
minute-men  who  marched  to  Boston  in  1775. 

Andreas  Hofer  had  two  excellent  staff-officers.  The 
one  was  a  fierce-fighting  Capuchin  *monk  named  Has- 
pinger;  the  other  was  a  chamois-hunter  named  Speck- 
bacher.  So  well  did  they  fight  that  by  the  end  of  May 
they  had  driven  the  enemy  out  of  Innsbruck,  and  given 
the  whole  country  once  more  back  to  their  dear  Kaiser 
Franz. 

But  Kaiser  Franz  on  the  Danube  did  not  make  so  good 
a  fight  as  Hofer  in  the  valley  of  the  pale-green  rushing 
and*  tumbling  Inn.*  Had  he  dismissed  his  field-marshals, 
and  put  in  their  places  a  few  peasants  with  courage  and 
common-sense,  he  might  have  done  better — he  certainly 
could  not  have  done  worse. 

Napoleon  left  Paris  on  April  12th,  and  in  thirty  days 
had  taken  up  his  quarters  in  Vienna,  having  beaten  in 
succession  all  the  Austrian  generals  who  came  out  to 
meet  him.  By  the  middle  of  July  he  had  frightened 
the  good  Kaiser  Franz  into  signing  a  truce  withdrawing 
his  troops  from  Tyrol. 

Thus  the  gallant  Tyrolese,  after  shedding  their  hon- 
est blood  for  the  Kaiser  whom  they  loved,  were  by  a 
stroke  of  the  pen  handed  over  naked  to  the  vengeance 
of  the  enemy. 

The  French  now  poured  into  the  valleys  of  the  beauti- 
ful country,  and  with  them  the  Bavarian  allies.  This 

*  Whoever  wishes  to  appreciate  the  intense  love  of  home  character- 
istic of  the  Alpine  peasantry,  let  him  launch  his  canoe  at  Innsbruck 
and  paddle  leisurely  down  to  the  mouth  of  the  Inn,  with  a  map  in  one 
hand  and  a  history  of  Hofer  in  the  other.  He  will,  on  such  a  cruise, 
enjoy  not  merely  beautiful  scenery  and  architecture,  but  meet  with  a 
people  full  of  admirable  virtues.  He  will  meet  with  more  beauty  in 
women  and  men  than  in  any  trip  of  equal  length  in  Europe — of  course 
with  the  exception  of  Hungary. 


HOKKH   CONKKUHING    WITH    TIIK    AUSTKIAN    STADTIIOLDEK 


was  more  than  Hofer  and  his  followers  could  bear. 
They  were  prepared  to  obey  the  terras  of  the  shameful 
truce,  but  could  not  understand  how  such  a  truce  per- 
mitted the  enemy  to  take  possession  of  their  home. 

So  once  more  the  Tyrolese  issued  from  their  cabins 
and  rallied  around  Hofer  for  a  desperate  fight  against 
what  they  regarded  as  the  "  enemy  of  heaven  and  of 
earth."  The  French  commander  put  a  price  upon  the 
head  of  Andreas  Hofer  as  upon  that  of  a  brigand,  and 
this  price  eventually  brought  to  light  a  Judas  Iscariot. 
But  before  his  end  he  made  such  an  impression  upon 
a  French  field-marshal  as  revived  respect  for  popular 
armies. 

By  the  middle  of  August  Innsbruck  had  been  again 
cleared  of  French,  and  Hofer  took  up  his  quarters  in  the 
imperial  palace.  Here  he  transacted  business  of  state 
with  the  same  simplicity  that  he  had  been  accustomed 
to  in  his  little  hut  up  the  valley  of  Passeyr.  Ministers 
of  state  found  him  in  his  shirt  sleeves  surrounded  by 
peasants  who  were  receiving  instructions  or  discussing 
with  him  further  defensive  measures.  These  peasants 
in  power  did  not  at  any  time  lose  their  heads.  They 
permitted  no  plundering,  but  carefully  watched  over 
the  administration  of  the  country  in  the  spirit  of  pious 
Christians  and  practical  men. 

The  proudest  moment  in  the  life  of  this  strange  dicta- 
tor was  on  the  29th  of  September,  when  a  gorgeous  offi- 
cial from  Vienna  arrived  at  the  palace  of  Innsbruck  bear- 
ing a  gold  medallion  with  a  long  chain.  It  \vas  a  present 
to  Andreas  Hofer  from  the  good  Kaiser  Franz.  Tears 
filled  the  peasant's  eyes  at  this  mark  of  his  master's 
favor,  and  all  good  Tyroleans  saw  in  this  not  merely  a 
reward  for  Hofer's  past  services,  but  a  proof  that  their 
Emperor  meant  them  to  continue  the  good  fight,  rely- 


190  THE   GERMAN   STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

ing  upon  his  promise  that  no  peace  should  be  signed 
separating  Tyrol  from  the  good  Kaiser  Franz. 

And  yet  on  the  14th  of  October,  the  third  anniversary 
of  the  battle  of  Jena,  this  same  Kaiser  Franz  did  make 
his  peace  with  France,  and  did  expressly  surrender  Tyrol 
to  the  enemy.  But  the  faithful  mountaineers  would  not 
believe  the  disgraceful  news.  They  trusted  their  beloved 
Kaiser,  and  kept  on  offering  their  money,  their  goods, 
and  their  lives  for  what  they  knew  to  be  their  duty. 
They  kept  up  the  unequal  fight  for  another  fortnight, 
but  finally,  on  November  1st,  so  severely  did  the  peas- 
ants suffer  in  a  desperate  struggle  near  Innsbruck  that 
all  hope  of  resisting  the  armies  in  the  field  was  aban- 
doned. The  French  had  finally  "  pacified  "  Tyrol ;  and 
the  hunted  rebels  dispersed  by  inaccessible  paths,  some 
to  take  refuge  in  Austria,  others  to  places  of  concealment 
in  their  native  valleys. 

Andreas  Hofer  had  ample  opportunity  for  escape. 
But  he  would  not  listen  to  those  who  talked  of  leaving 
his  beloved  Tyrol.  Far  up  in  the  valley  where  he  was 
born  he  hid  himself  in  a  cabin  that  was  left  untenanted 
during  the  winter.  For  two  months  he  preserved  the 
secret  of  his  Jife  here,  protected  by  the  snow  and  ice  and 
by  the  loyalty  of  his  comrades  in  the  huts  below  him. 
His  meals  were  brought  to  him  by  his  intimate  friend 
and  adviser,  the  priest  Donay.  But  the  French  finally 
had  their  suspicions  aroused.  Partly  by  threats  and 
partly  by  promises  they  at  length  made  this  priest  turn 
traitor  to  the  confiding  friend  who  had  placed  his  life 
in  his  hands. 

On  the  20th  of  January,  as  Andreas  Hofer  lay  sleep- 
ing, troops  surrounded  his  cabin.  He  was  manacled  like 
a  felon,  and  marched  down  the  valley  between  loaded 
muskets.  He  passed  the  village  of  St.  Leonard,  where 


GERMAN    LIBERTY  TAKES   REFUGE    IN  AUSTRIAN  ALPS    191 

he  was  born,  the  little  tavern  where  the  patriots  of  the 
valley  had  gathered  to  talk  of  Tyrolean  liberty.  This 
was  his  only  home,  and  the  sole  support  of  his  wife  and 
children.  They  were  now  left  beggars,  for  Andreas 
Hofer  was  declared  a  rebel  and  a  brigand;  his  goods 
were  condemned  to  confiscation,  and  himself  to  be  shot. 

On  through  the  valley,  through  ice  and  snow,  he 
tramped  beside  his  captors.  The  friends  of  his  youth, 
the  peasants  who  loved  him  as  their  devoted  champion, 
old  women  and  children — for  the  rest  had  been  killed — 
all  pressed  around  him.  They  kissed  his  hands,  his 
clothes ;  they  begged  for  a  blessing,  and  followed  him 
with  wet  eyes  and  lips  that  trembled  with  a  prayer  for 
his  deliverance. 

He  passed  through  Meran,  then  Botzen,  down  through 
the  magnificent  Brenner  Pass,  and  was  finally  locked 
up  in  Mantua.  Here  it  was  intended  that  he  should 
have  a  trial ;  but  when  it  appeared  that  some  of  his 
judges  were  disposed  to  mercy  on  the  ground  that 
Andreas  Hofer  was  obeying  orders  from  his  Emperor, 
there  came  suddenly  a  peremptory  message  from  Milan 
sentencing  him  to  be  executed  by  powder  and  ball  with- 
in twenty-four  hours. 

This  put  an  end  to  the  mockery  of  a  trial.  He  was 
taken  out  and  shot  like  a  mad  dog  on  the  20th  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1810. 

If  anything  can  make  this  act  of  cruelty  seem  more 
cruel  still,  it  is  the  recollection  that  Andreas  Hofer  gave 
himself  up  as  a  sacrifice  for  his  dear  Kaiser  Franz,  and 
that  while  he  was  awaiting  execution  in  the  dungeons  of 
Mantua  that  same  Kaiser  Franz  was  negotiating  the  sale 
of  his  daughter  Marie  Louise  to  a  Corsican  notary's  son, 
who  had  divorced  his  lawful  wife,  Josephine,  in  order  to 
marry  into  higher  society.  One  word  from  Marie  Louise 


192  THE  GERMAN   STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

to  her  future  husband  might  have  saved  the  life  of 
Andreas  Hofer,  but  that  word  was  not  spoken.  The 
good  Kaiser  Franz  might  have  asked  his  future  son-in- 
law  to  set  his  most  loyal  subject  free  before  receiving 
Marie  Louise  as  a  bride.  But  the  court  of  Vienna  was 
too  much  occupied  in  preparations  for  the  wedding  to 
think  of  Tyrolese  patriots,  even  though  these  very  peas- 
ants had  done  more  for  the  crown  of  Kaiser  Franz  than 
all  his  court  and  all  his  pompous  generals. 

Shortly  before  his  death  Hofer  wrote  to  a  dear  friend : 
"  Farewell,  ungrateful  world.  Dying  comes  so  easy  to  me 
that  my  eyes  do  not  even  moisten.  At  nine  o'clock,  by 
the  help  of  all  the  saints,  I  set  out  upon  my  journey  to 
God." 

But  Andreas  Hofer  did  not  die  in  vain.  The  story  of 
his  life  and  death  spread  rapidly  over  all  Germany,  and 
made  men  feel  ashamed  when  they  learned  of  the  much 
that  had  been  done  by  a  handful  of  brave  peasants. 
Queen  Luise  was  much  affected  by  his  fate,  coming  so 
soon  after  the  death  of  Schill.* 

Austrians  now  honor  their  great  peasant  patriot.  To 
the  visitor  in  Innsbruck  is  shown  a  splendid  monument 
in  marble  erected  over  his  grave  in  the  court  church. 
He  has  another  heroic  monument  on  the  heights  over- 
looking the  town,  whence  he  directed  his  most  splendid 
military  operations  for  the  liberation  of  his  country. 
The  museum  of  Innsbruck  is  full  of  interesting  relics 
connected  with  his  life  and  times,  and  no  stranger  can 
be  long  in  that  country  without  feeling  that  he  is  in 
the  land  of  Andreas  Hofer.  His  life  has  been  dramatized 
and  played  by  his  fellow-peasants  to  enormous  audiences ; 

*  The  people  of  Berlin  showed  their  sympathy  for  the  liberty-loving 
mountaineers  by  smoking  pipes  decorated  with  the  face  of  Andreas 
Hofer. 


ANDKEAS  HOFEK  BKOUGHT  A  PHI  SON  UK  KUOM  THE  MOUNTAINS 


GERMAN    LIBERTY  TAKES   REFUGE   IN  AUSTRIAN  ALPS    193 

and  it  would  be  almost  impossible  to  find  a  school-child 
between  the  Alps  and  the  Baltic  who  did  not  sing  the 
plaintive  song, 

"  Zu  Mantua  in  Banden, 
Der  treue  Hofer  war," 

a  song  that  cannot  to-day  be  sung  to  even  mixed  audi- 
ences without  causing  the  throat  to  grow  tight  and  the 
eye  to  fill  in  recalling  the  honest  life,  the  brave  fight,  and 
the  heroic  death  of  the  simple  peasant  lad  who,  when 
generals  and  grand -dukes  surrendered  to  the  French, 
kept  up  the  fight  for  liberty  and  defied  Napoleon  with  a 
handful  of  mountaineers. 


XX 

THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  QUEEN  LUISE 

"Die  Einheit  Deutschlands  liegt  mir  am  Herzen.  Sie  ist  ein  Erb- 
theil  meiner  Mutter."  *— Frederick  William  IV.,  eldest  son  of 
Queen  Luise  of  Prussia. 

QUEEN  LUISE  died  in  1810,  at  the  age  of  thirty-four. 
She  saw  all  the  shame  that  came  upon  her  country,  and 
died  of  a  broken  heart  in  the  midst  of.  political  move- 
ments promising  complete  extinction  to  the  Hohenzol- 
lern  dynasty.  After  death  her  heart  was  examined, 
and  upon  it  was  discovered  a  strange  growth  resembling 
the  initial  letter  of  the  great  Corsican  conqueror. 

The  history  of  her  country  was  impressed  upon  her  by 
several  memorable  murders  executed  by  Napoleon.  In 
1804  the  Duke  of  Enghien  was  living  in  Germany  as  an 
exile.  Napoleon  had  him  kidnapped  and  shot  without 
a  trial. 

In  1806  the  German  bookseller  John  Palm  forwarded 
a  book  of  whose  contents  he  was  ignorant.  Napoleon 
ordered  him  shot  without  a  trial. 

In  1808  the  greatest  statesman  Germany  has  ever 
produced,  the  Prussian  Prime-Minister  Stein,  was  pro- 
nounced by  Napoleon  to  be  an  enemy  of  France.  He 
had  to  fly  for  his  life.  His  estates  were  confiscated. 


*  Translation  :  "  The  unity  of  Germany  lies  close  to  my  heart.     It  is 
an  inheritance  from  my  mother." 


THE   LAST    DAYS    OF   QUEEN    LUISE  195 

Had  he  been  caught  he  would  have  been  shot  like  the 
Duke  of  Enghien. 

In  1809  Schill  marched  his  regiment  against  Napoleon, 
hoping  to  aid  Austria  in  her  war.  He  was  declared  a 
brigand.  His  head  was  cut  off  and  carried  in  triumph 
to  Jerome  Bonaparte,  his  men  were  sent  as  convicts  to 
the  penitentiary,  his  fellow-officers  were  shot  as  high- 
waymen. 

In  1810  Napoleon  ordered  the  shooting  of  the  noble 
peasant  Andreas  Hofer,  whose  crime  lay  in  fighting  for 
his  home  and  his  Emperor  against  overwhelming  odds. 
His  trial  was  a  mockery. 

These  acts  of  violence  were  all  of  a  nature  to  outrage 
the  German  sense  of  justice,  and  to  kindle  in  Germans 
of  every  section  a  feeling  that  Napoleon  had  come 
upon  earth  for  the  express  purpose  of  being  their 
scourge. 

So  much  for  the  startling  acts  affecting  the  people. 

In  the  councils  of  the  palace  the  hand  of  Napoleon 
was  felt  still  more  crushingly.  Napoleon  had  demanded 
of  Prussia  a  war  indemnity  representing  more  than  six- 
teen times  the  gross  revenues  of  the  country  for  any  one 
year,  and  he  backed  up  this  demand  by  threatening  to 
occupy  the  country  with  his  troops  and  tax-collectors 
until  his  demands  should  have  been  met.  This  meant 
nothing  less  than  making  Prussia  a  province  of  France 
and  the  Hohenzollerns  dependent  princes. 

Queen  Luise  became  at  once,  in  these  desperate  days, 
the  centre  of  all  national  hope.  She  kept  her  husband 
in  the  right  way,  and  cheered  him  up  when  her  own 
heart  was  sore  with  bad  news.  She  had  an  instinctive 
appreciation  for  strong  men.  She  knew  that  the  King 
disliked  Stein,  but  she  brought  them  together  after  the 
Peace  of  Tilsit  (1807),  and  when  Stein  lost  his  temper 


196  THE    GERMAN   STRUGGLE   FOR    LIBERTY 

over  the  King's  vacillating  behavior,  wrote  to  the  rugged 
statesman  (in  German) : 

"  I  implore  you,  by  all  that  is  sacred,  do  have  patience 
just  this  one  month.  The  King  will  surely  keep  his 
word.  .  .  .  Do  give  way  for  this  bit  of  time,  that  all  may 
not  fall  to  pieces  for  the  sake  of  three  months'  waiting. 
In  the  name  of  God  I  implore  you,  in  the  name  of  King 
and  country,  for  the  sake  of  my  children,  for  my  own 
sake — patience !  LUISE." 

This  is  a  mother  pleading  with  the  honest  but  un- 
bending Stein.  These  are  not  sentences  polished  by 
courtly  officials.  Luise  would  have  gone  on  her  knees 
to  Stein  for  the  sake  of  her  country,  and  we  may  realize 
somewhat  the  sore  plight  that  country  was  in  when  she 
finds  it  necessary  to  indorse  the  promissory  notes  drawn 
by  her  husband. 

Luise  is  the  best  historian  of  her  time ;  for,  with  all 
the  passion  and  enthusiasm  that  inspired  her,  she  pre- 
served a  balance  of  mind  which  made  her  capable  of 
forming  most  correct  judgments  of  men  and  things. 

Her  brother  George  was  her  dearest  friend,  and  to 
him  she  wrote  loving  letters  full  of  her  own  feelings. 

"Ah,  George,"  wrote  she  (Memel,  October  7,  1807), 
"  you  can't  imagine  how  happy  we  are  when  one  day  does 
not  bring  anything  worse  than  the  last.  Yes,  we  have 
come  down  pretty  low.  I  do  not  complain  of  the  results 
of  the  dreadful  peace  [of  Tilsit].  After  such  a  disastrous 
war  one  must  be  prepared  for  sacrifices,  and  we  did  make 
enormous  ones.  .  .  .  But  to  endure  caprice  and  to  be  the 
sport  of  the  whims  of  French  marshals  and  employes — 
that  was  too  much.  We  had  not  the  strength  to  support 
that — no  one  could  stand  that.  ...  I  do  not  despair  of 


THE   LAST   DAYS    OF    QUEEN   LUISE  197 

the  internal  welfare  of  the  country.  The  present  misery 
is  unlimited,  but  at  the  same  time  there  are  many  forces 
now  lying  dormant,  many  springs  of  plenty  yet  un- 
opened. .  .  .  The  great  master  [Stein]  is  here.  He  can 
waken  all  this  up.  He  has  the  ability  and  force ;  the 
will  and  the  energy — all  together." 

She  was  at  this  time  expecting  the  birth  of  her  eighth 
child,  and  hoped  that  she  might  soon  be  allowed  to  return 
to  Berlin  so  as  to  be  confined  more  comfortably. 

Her  brother  George  went  to  Paris  shortly  after  this 
and  begged  Napoleon  to  allow  his  sister  to  return  to  Ber- 
lin for  the  sake  of  her  approaching  confinement.  In- 
credible as  it  may  appear,  this  man,  who  had  pretended 
so  much  gallantry  towards  her  in  Tilsit,  received  this  re- 
quest with  impatience  and  refused  it  with  rudeness. 

Napoleon  had  cast  reflections  upon  the  virtue  of  Queen 
Luise  and  had  otherwise  offered  her  insult  in  bulletins 
published  throughout  his  official  press.  In  spite  of  this, 
and  even  at  this  time,  she  repeatedly  offered  herself  as  a 
hostage  in  the  hands  of  France — as  guarantee  that  the 
money  demanded  should  be  paid.  But  Stein  said, "  Not 
yet."  He  rightly  saw  that  Napoleon  wanted  more  than 
the  sum  of  money — he  wanted  Prussia  itself.  And  that 
is  why  Stein,  with  heart  and  soul,  encouraged  everything 
which  promised  to  awaken  personal  self-respect  and 
patriotism  amongst  the  people. 

"  God  be  praised  that  Stein  is  here,"  wrote  Queen 
Luise  (October  10,  1807).  "  It  is  a  sign  that  God  has 
not  wholly  abandoned  us." 

But  in  the  same  letter  she  contemplated  the  probabil- 
ity of  Prussia  ceasing  to  have  an  independent  existence. 
"I  shall  then  have  but  one  desire  —  to  emigrate — far 
away.  To  live  the  life  of  private  people  and — if  possible 
—  to  forget.  Great  God,  what  has  Prussia  come  to ! 


198  THE    GERMAN    STRUGGLE    FOR    LIBERTY 

Abandoned  out  of  weakness  [a  hit  at  Alexander  I.],  per- 
secuted through  insolent  pride,  weakened  by  misfortune  ; 
thus  must  we  go  down.  Savary  [the  French  agent]  has 
given  assurance  that  Russian  intervention  would  do  us 
no  good;  but  he  offered  us  a  bit  of  friendly  advice:  to  sell 
our  jewels  and  valuables  at  auction.  Think  of  his  being 
allowed  to  tell  us  these  things !" 

Germans  who  have  grown  up  under  the  great  modern 
empire  founded  at  Versailles  in  1871  must  find  food  for 
thought  in  recalling  a  time  in  this  century  when  em- 
ployes of  Napoleon  sat  in  Berlin  and  told  the  family  of 
Hohenzollern  how  they  should  make  both  ends  meet. 

Luise's  favorite  brother  George  went  to  Paris,  and  had 
his  first  interview  with  Napoleon  on  November  1,1807. 
He  was  twenty-eight  years  of  age,  and  came  to  fulfil  the 
promise  he  had  made  to  his  sister — to  plead  for  justice. 

The  court  was  at  Fontainebleau.  Napoleon  had  re- 
vived the  ceremonial  state  of  the  old  monarchy,  and  with 
it  the  so-called  lever  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
where  all  had  to  appear  in  pompous  court  uniforms  mod- 
elled after  those  worn  before  the  Revolution.  At  one  of 
these  levers  3roung  Prince  George  was  permitted  to  ap- 
proach the  mighty  man  and  present  his  petition,  the  ad- 
mission of  Mecklenburg  as  member  of  the  Rhine  Con- 
federation. Be  it  said,  in  parenthesis,  that  Mecklenburg, 
the  ancestral  home  of  Queen  Luise,  had  no  choice  be- 
tween joining  the  Rhine  Confederation  and  being  extin- 
guished. It  is  to  Mecklenburg's  credit  that  she  delayed 
her  action  to  the  very  last. 

In  the  midst  of  discussing  this  question  Napoleon  sud- 
denly changed  his  tone,  and,  with  a  sneer,  asked  him  if  he 
had  news  of  his  sister. 

George :  "  Yes,  sire." 

Napoleon :  "  Is  she  well  ?" 


THE   LAST  DAYS  OF   QUEEN   LTJISE  199 

George :  "  No,  sire ;  she  cannot  be." 

Napoleon:  "Why  not?" 

George:  "Because  she  has  been  deceived  in  her  most 
precious  and  most  just  hopes.  According  to  the  treaty 
signed  with  your  Majesty,  the  King  of  Prussia  should 
now  be  back  in  Berlin.  But  as  the  conditions  of  this 
treaty  are  not  fulfilled,  the  Queen  must  see  her  dearest 
wish  not  fulfilled  of  having  her  approaching  confinement 
in  Berlin ;  and  that  operates  unfavorably  on  her  health." 

Napoleon  (angrily) :  "  That  is  not  my  fault.  You  want- 
ed the  war,  and  these  are  the  results." 

George:  "Peace  has  been  signed  and  the  conditions 
complied  with." 

Napoleon :  "  I  cannot  place  any  reliance  upon  the  King. 
He  is  neither  soldier  nor  statesman.  Therefore  I  cannot 
trust  him  in  the  slightest  degree." 

The  Prince  of  Mecklenburg  naturally  resented  Napo- 
leon's rude  speech  about  his  brother-in-law,  and  pointed 
out  that  Frederick  William  kept  on  fighting  long  after 
Jena  because  he  was  loyal  to  his  ally  Alexander  I., 
who  subsequently  deserted  him. 

Napoleon  (violently) :  "  No ;  I  know  you  all  better 
than  you  do  yourselves,  and  I  cannot  but  be  suspicious. 
And  I  shall  crush  them  to  atoms  (je  les  ecraserai)  at  the 
first  bit  of  foolishness  they  may  undertake." 

This  is  a  sample  of  the  conversation.  This  prince  of 
a  sovereign  state  had  not  harmed  France ;  had  not  been 
at  war;  had  come  to  Paris  to  form  an  alliance  with 
the  master  of  Europe,  and  was  treated  with  insult  for 
the  family  he  represented. 

That  winter  the  royal  family  of  Prussia  spent  in 
Konigsberg,  with  scarce  enough  pocket-money  to  set  a 
respectable  table.  It  was  regarded  as  something  quite 
exceptional  that  a  champagne  bottle  should  be  opened 


200  THE   GERMAN   STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

to  celebrate  the  birthday  of  little  Prince  William,  who 
was  destined  to  become  first  German  Emperor  and 
enter  France  three  times  at  the  head  of  a  victorious 
German  army. 

Luise  sold  her  jewels  and  the  King  melted  down  the 
gold  table  service.  They  set  an  example  of  thrift  that  can 
be  compared  only  with  Washington's  habits  at  Valley 
Forge.  The  house  they  lived  in  at  Konigsberg  is  still 
preserved — a  simple  farm-house,  such  as  a  family  in  re- 
duced circumstances  might  select  in  order  to  conceal 
themselves  economically  during  the  summer  holidays. 
When  I  visited  this  house,  Konigsberg  was  in  festal 
dress  to  receive  a  German  Emperor,  the  great-grandson 
of  Queen  Luise.  He  came  to  Konigsberg  to  review 
60,000  of  the  best  troops  in  Europe  and  to  unveil  the 
monument  of  his  grandfather  the  first  German  Emperor, 
on  whose  twelfth  birthday  it  had  been  deemed  strange 
luxury  to  open  a  bottle  of  champagne !  Old  Emperor 
William  never  forgot  that  birthday  of  his  in  Konigsberg, 
nor  did  he  ever  depart  from  the  habits  of  simplicity 
which  were  forced  upon  his  parents  by  the  hard  hand 
of  Napoleon. 

Luise  was  devoted  to  Schiller's  poetry,  notably  those 
of  his  plays  which  glorified  the  love  of  country.  The 
great  poet  died  in  1805,  while  Queen  Luise  was  arrang- 
ing for  his  appointment  to  Berlin,  which  would  have 
given  him  a  competence  for  life.  She  was  a  loyal  friend 
to  Bliicher,  Gneisenau,  Scharnhorst,  and  we  have  seen 
how  she  encouraged  the  daring  Schill  by  giving  him  a 
keepsake  which  tacitly  meant  the  royal  approval  of  his 
rebellious  expedition. 

When  the  Tyroleans  fought  so  gallantly  in  1809  she 
threw  all  her  influence  on  the  side  of  Austria,  and  was 
the  first  to  see  that  Germany's  natural  ally  was  not 


THE    LAST   DATS    OF   QUEEN   LUISE  201 

Kussia,  but  the  people  of  German  tongue  and  German 
blood,  Avho  together  make  up  the  great  Germanic  nation. 
When  that  war  ended  in  disaster  and  Andreas  Hofer 
was  shot,  she  wrote:  "Thou,  O  God,  art  the  only  help 
left.  I  believe  in  no  future  on  earth.  God  knows  where 
I  shall  find  a  grave — probably  not  in  Prussian  soil. 
Austria  is  singing  her  dying  song,  and  then,  good-bye, 
my  Germany !" 

Her  disappointment  can  be  measured  by  the  aid  of 
her  own  words  in  a  letter  to  a  dear  friend : 

" '  Liberty  dwells  in  the  mountains.'  That  is  a  passage 
which  I  only  now  appreciate  as  a  prophecy,  when  I  see 
how  the  mountains  have  responded  to  the  call  of  An- 
dreas Hofer.  And  what  a  man,  this  Andreas  Hofer !  A 
peasant  becomes  commander  of  armies,  and  what  a 
splendid  leader  !  His  weapons,  prayer ;  his  ally.  God  ! 
He  fights  with  clasped  hands !  fights  on  bended  knee, 
and  smites  as  with  the  sword  of  a  cherub.  ...  A  child 
in  heart,  these  people  fight  like  Titans,  with  blocks  of 
rock,  which  they  roll  from  the  side  of  the  mountain." 

I  cannot  resist  quoting  so  much  from  this  Queen,  be- 
cause her  words  so  well  reflect  her  thoughts,  and  these 
were  so  honest. 

That  Prussia  might  take  up  arms  against  Austria 
and  the  plucky  Tyroleans  grieved  her  intensely ;  and 
yet  according  to  the  terms  of  the  treaty  with  Napo- 
leon this  was  quite  possible. 

"  Prussia  against  Austria !  What  is  then  to  become 
of  Germany  ?  No,  I  cannot  tell  you  what  I  feel ;  my 
breast  aches  to  bursting.  ...  O  God !  have  we  not 
yet  suffered  enough  ?  My  birthday  (March  10th)  was  a 
day  of  horror  to  me.  A  big  and  brilliant  ball  at  night, 
given  in  my  honor  by  the  town  [Konigsberg],  and  pre- 
ceded by  a  festive  banquet  in  the  palace — oh,  how  it  all 


202  THE   GERMAN    STRUGGLE   FOE    LIBERTY 

made  me  sad !  My  heart  was  torn — and  I  danced !  I 
made  a  smiling  face,  I  said  pleasant  things  to  those  who 
gave  this  feast,  I  was  agreeable  to  all  the  world — and 
through  it  all  desperately  miserable ! 

"  To  whom  will  Prussia  belong  a  year  from  now  ? 
When  shall  we  all  be  scattered?  Father  Almighty, 
take  pity  on  us !" 

That  was  the  spring  of  1809,  when  Napoleon  had 
driven  Stein  from  Germany,  and  talked  seriously  of 
taking  from  Prussia  her  richest  remaining  province — 
Silesia,  that  province  which  Frederick  the  Great  had 
won  after  seven  years  of  glorious  fighting. 

Queen  Luise  in  this  year  of  despair  laid  the  foundation 
for  Germany's  greatness  in  many  ways,  but  in  none 
more  efficiently  than  in  the  encouragement  she  gave  to 
common  -  school  education  on  the  lines  of  Pestalozzi. 
That  eccentric  genius  (born  1745)  lived  in  Switzerland, 
and  developed  in  his  little  village  principles  of  educa- 
tion which  now  are  applied  universally,  but  in  his  day 
came  like  a  revelation.  He  originated  the  now  gener- 
ally accepted  axiom  that  the  good  citizen  is  the  out- 
growth of  a  system  of  training  commencing  at  the 
mother's  breast.  Education  in  his  eyes  was  pre-emi- 
nently of  vital  interest  to  the  state,  on  the  ground  that 
a  state  is  secure  only  in  so  far  as  it  reposes  upon  the 
consent  of  the  great  body  of  educated  people.  These 
ideas  in  his  day  had  something  republican  about  them 
which  was  formidable  to  absolute  monarchs,  and  it  is 
marvellous  that  the  first  state  to  accept  his  gospel  and 
carry  his  teachings  out  to  their  logical  end  was  that  of 
the  most  absolute  monarch  Frederick  William  III. 

Luise  gathered  in  reports  from  all  schools  conducted 
on  Pestalozzi's  plan,  and  gave  her  husband  no  peace 
until  he  granted  her  request  to  have  the  educational  ex- 


THE    LAST   DAYS   OF   QUEEN    LUISE  203 

periraent  tried  in  Konigsberg.  This  experiment  proved 
successful,  in  spite  of  the  very  small  money  means 
at  her  command.  But  more  than  money  was  the  con- 
stant personal  attention  which  the  Queen  gave  to  this 
work. 

" I  am  reading  Lienhard  und  Gertrude"  writes  she, 
"  a  book  for  the  people,  written  by  Pestalozzi.  I  feel  so 
at  home  in  that  Swiss  hamlet.  "Were  I  only  my  own 
master,  I  would  jump  into  a  carriage  and  roll  away  to 
Switzerland  to  see  Pestalozzi,  to  thank  that  noble  man 
with  tears  in  my  eyes  and  the  heartiest  pressure  of  the 
hands.  What  a  great  heart  he  has  for  humanity !  Yes, 
I  can  thank  him  in  the  name  of  my  fellow-man.  One 
particular  passage  pleased  me,  because  it  is  the  truth : 
'  Suffering  and  want  are  blessings  ,of  God  when  they 
have  been  endured.'  And  so  it  is  in  the  midst  of  my 
misery  I  keep  saying, '  It  is  the  blessing  of  God  '.'  How 
much  nearer  am  I  to  God  !  How  much  more  distinctly 
have  my  feelings  taken  shape  regarding  the  immortality 
of  the  soul !" 

Pestalozzi,  like  Luise,  lived  and  died  in  want  and  sor- 
row. They  never  saw  one  another.  Like  her,  he  never 
knew  what  his  life  was  to  accomplish  for  the. benefit 
of  generations  yet  to  be  born.  One  of  the  last  public 
acts  of  Queen  Luise  was  to  go  with  her  husband,  on 
December  7, 1809,  and  carefully  inspect  the  Konigsberg 
Institute,  where  the  methods  of  Pestalozzi  were  on 
trial. 

A  week  after  this  she  left  Konigsberg,  and,  after  an 
absence  of  three  years  and  three  months,  the  royal  fam- 
ily of  Prussia  once  more  took  up  its  home  in  Berlin. 
She  was  already  suffering  from  the  disease  that  was  to 
close  her  life,  and  yet  never  did  she  accomplish  more  for 
her  country  than  in  these  last  precious  months.  Since 


204  THE   GERMAN    STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

the  banishment  of  Stein  by  order  of  Napoleon  the  gov- 
ernment business  had  fallen  once  again  into  incompe- 
tent hands,  or,  worse  still,  into  the  hands  of  officials 
who  believed  that  the  only  safety  for  Prussia  lay  in 
complete  servility  before  Napoleon.  The  King  was 
weak  enough  to  be  influenced  b}7  this  party,  and  it 
was  difficult  for  Luise  to  make  him  see  the  slavery  he 
was  preparing. 

Hardenberg  was  the  successor  to  Stein  in  popular 
feeling,  for  in  Hardenberg  the  best  people  of  Germany 
saw  a  statesman  able  to  cope  with  the  difficulties  of  their 
very  painful  situation.  Luise  set  in  movement  every 
influence  at  her  command  to  secure  the  appointment  of 
Hardenberg  as  Prime-Minister,  and,  above  all,  to  over- 
come the  veto  of  Napoleon.  Hardenberg  was  known 
in  France  to  be  of  German  national  sentiment,  and  there- 
fore not  likely  to  assist  in  the  policy  of  Frenchifying  his 
country.  But  by  this  time  Napoleon  had  reached  an 
altitude  of  glory  from  which  things  far  below  him  ap- 
peared strangely  insignificant.  He  sneered  at  the  idea 
that  Prussia  could  ever  seriously  think  of  resisting  him, 
and  approved  of  Hardenberg  because  that  minister  gave 
a  guarantee  that  the  Prussian  finances  would  yield  the 
highest  possible  sums  for  the  benefit  of  Napoleon's  army, 
which  just  then  was  having  a  very  expensive  campaign 
in  Spain. 

It  is  notable  that  in  these  dark  days  of  Prussia,  under 
a  monarch  regarded  as  absolute,  whenever  we  hear  of 
a  good  bit  of  statesmanship  we  can  almost  always  trace 
it  back  to  the  doings  of  a  woman  whose  character  was 
essentially  feminine,  domestic,  and  dependent.  She  took 
great  pains  to  conceal  the  part  she  played  in  the  regen- 
eration of  her  country,  knowing  that  her  King  was  a 
jealous  King,  who  resented  sharply  any  apparent  in- 


IIAKDKNKKKO 

[Kroin  Ihc  busl  by  Hunch.] 


THE    LAST   DAYS   OF   QUEEN    LUISE  205 

fringement  of  his  prerogatives.*  She  persuaded  him 
now  and  then  for  the  public  good,  because  she  was  gifted 
with  singular  tact,  and  never  made  him  feel  that  he  was 
influenced.  And,  besides,  he  was  fondly  attached  to  her 
and  loved  to  give  her  pleasure. 

So,  in  Berlin,  in  January  of  1810,  the  last  time  that 
Luise  appeared  at  a  grand  court  function  in  all  her  regal 
splendor,  it  was  to  do  violence  to  the  social  traditions  of 
that  court — to  place  a  high  decoration  upon  the  breast 
of  an  actor.  Even  Napoleon  had  not  done  such  a  thing  in 
France  to  a  Talma.  Luise  did  it  to  Iffland,  and  with  every 
circumstance  calculated  to  make  the  ceremony  impressive. 

Iffland  was  director  of  the  Berlin  court  theatre  during 
the  winter  after  Jena,  when  the  Queen  was  flying  into 
exile  along  the  shores  of  the  Baltic.  The  French  occu- 
pied the  capital,  and  had  strictly  forbidden  that  there 
should  be  any  celebration  of  Queen  Luise's  birthday. 
Iffland  had  been  threatened  with  prison  by  the  French 
in  1807  for  attempting  to  celebrate  the  birthday  of  his 
Queen.  In  1808  he  appeared  on  the  stage  with  a  rose. 
It  was  the  evening  of  March  10th,  and  many  hearts  were 
beating  for  their  Queen  far  awa}^.  Iffland  suddenly 
stopped  in  his  role,  looked  furtively  to  right  and  left, 
then  hotly  pressed  the  rose  to  his  lips. 

*  The  widow  of  a  direct  descendant  of  Queen  Luise's  sister,  who 
died  in  Gmilnden  at  the  age  of  over  eighty,  told  me,  in  the  summer  of 
1893,  that  under  the  will  of  her  mother  she  had  been  compelled  to 
destroy  a  mass  of  most  interesting  correspondence  between  Queen 
Luise,  her  family,  and  friends.  An  idea  of  tlie  mischief  done  may  be 
gathered  from  the  fact  that  this  lady  was  occupied  during  three  whole 
days  burning  up  these  precious  letters.  She,  of  course,  regretted 
enormously  the  loss  she  was  causing,  but  had  no  choice  in  the  matter. 
This  helps  to  explain  why  so  little  of  this  admirable  Queen  has  come 
down  to  us.  Nor  do  the  secret  archives  of  the  Hohenzollern  family 
assist  us  yet ! 


206  THE    GERMAN    STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

It  was  a  slight  thing  in  itself,  but  every  German  saw- 
in  that  rose  the  emblem  of  his  Queen,  and  the  uproar 
in  the  theatre  became  so  great  that  the  French  could 
not  fail  to  understand  the  meaning  of  this  enthusiasm. 
Iffland  was  then  promptly  locked  up  in  jail  and  kept 
there  t\vo  days. 

So  Napoleon  hated  Queen  Luise,  because  he  found  that 
the  little  finger  of  that  one  pure  woman  could  raise 
against  him  more  enemies  than  he  could  conveniently 
keep  quiet. 

That  winter,  1809-10,  was  her  last  on  earth.  She 
suffered  more  and  more  from  pain  in  the  region  of 
the  chest,  and  longed  for  the  warm  weather,  when  she 
might  go  out  into  the  country  and  live  the  plain  life  that 
delighted  her  above  all  things. 

On  the  25th  of  June,  1810,  at  last  she  was  able  to  start 
for  a  visit  to  her  beloved  father  in  Mecklenburg,  and 
during  this  happy  visit  she  died  on  the  19th  of  July, 
1810.  She  died  in  the  arms  of  her  husband,  and  her  last 
words  were:  "Lord,  Jesus,  make  it  short."* 

As  she  had  predicted  so  often,  her  life  was  not  to  be 

*  Ranch's  famous  monument  of  Queen  Luise,  which  to-day  makes 
Charlottenburg  the  favorite  pilgrimage  of  Germans,  was  completed  in 
1814,  and  at  once  shipped  to  Hamburg  from  Leghorn  on  board  an 
English  ship.  It  was  an  odd  coincidence  that  the  completed  statue 
left  Rome  on  July  19th,  the  day  of  the  Queen's  death.  But  England 
in  that  year  was  at  war  with  the  United  States,  and  so  it  happened 
that  a  Yankee  privateer  overhauled  the  British  merchantman,  took 
her  prisoner,  and  sailed  away  with  her  and  her  precious  cargo.  But 
the  captured  merchantman  was  in  turn  chased  and  overhauled  by  the 
English  privateer  Elisa,  so  that  once  more  the  monument  of  Queen 
Luise  sailed  under  the  British  flag.  The  precious  marble  was  trans- 
ferred in  the  island  of  Jersey  to  the  brig -of -war  Spy,  and  by  her 
brought  safely  to  Cuxhaven,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Elbe.  At  last,  on  the 
22d  of  May,  1815,  the  famous  work  reached  Berlin,  having  taken 
almost  a  year  on  the  way. 


THE    LAST  DAYS   OF   QUEEN    LtJISE  207 

long  in  this  \vorld.  Born  in  the  year  of  American  Inde- 
pendence, 1776,  she  died  in  her  thirty-fifth  year.  She 
was  the  inspiration  of  the  great  German  war  of  independ- 
ence, but  for  her  own  part  she  little  dreamed  of  the  great 
things  she  was  doing.  When  she  listened  to  the  children 
in  the  Pestalozzi  school ;  when  she  reconciled  the  King 
with  the  hot-tempered  Stein;  when  she  sent  a  little  pocket- 
book  to  Schill ;  when  she  secured  Hardenberg  as  Prime- 
Minister;  when  she  publicly  recognized  the  services  of 
the  actor  Iffland — these  seemed  most  simple  things  to  her. 
It  is  not  often  that  a  good  mother  can  bless  God  for 
having  taken  her  babe.  When  Luise  heard  that  the 
Austrian  Emperor  had  sold  his  young  daughter  Marie 
Louise  to  Napoleon  for  a  political  price,  she  wrote  to 
her  father :  "  God  be  praised  forever  that  my  daughter 
came  dead  into  the  world  !  She  would  now  be  in  her 
sixteenth  year.  .  .  .  Just  think  of  the  dreadful  tempta- 
tion that  might  have  been  ours.  On  the  one  side,  all  the 
feelings  that  are  natural  to  a  human  creature,  that  are 
peculiarly  natural  to  a  mother,  these  would  have  cried 
out  against  it:  No,  never  do  this  monstrous  thing;  do 
not  make  your  child  unhappy  in  this  world,  perhaps 
forever.  And  again,  on  the  other  side,  are  six  millions 
of  the  people  who,  by  a  simple  consent  on  my  part,  might 
step  from  misery  and  tears  into  happiness  merely  by 
the  sacrifice  of  this  one  suffering  creature.  Think  of 
this  intensely,  and  thank  God  with  me  that  he  has  kept 
this  cup  from  the  good  King  and  me.*  Yes,  indeed, 
God  does  not  lay  heavier  burdens  than  we  can  bear, 
lie  has  not  withdrawn  his  merciful  hand — I  see  it  clear- 
ly from  this  alone." 

*  "The  King,  who  adored  her,  ...  is  still  miserable  at  her  loss,  and 
never  misses  a  day  visiting  her  tomb  at  Charlottenburg."  —  Lady 
ISurghesh  to  her  mother,  Berlin,  October  30,  1813. 


208  THE   GERMAN   STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

To  a  niece  of  hers  who  was  contemplating  marriage 
with  a  Bavarian  prince  who  insisted  upon  the  Protestant 
princess  becoming  Roman  Catholic,  Luise  wrote,  with 
characteristic  vigor :  "  What  does  a  man  gain  who  se- 
cures the  world  but  stains  his  soul?"  She  strongly  urged 
her  to  regard  her  religion  as  more  important  than  tem- 
poral success.  "  It  is  but  religion  that  gives  us  inner  calm 
in  the  midst  of  the  tempest  and  carnage  that  so  often 
surround  us  here  below." 

Such  sentiments  were  rarely  expressed  in  those  days, 
and  even  now  we  sometimes  see  a  princess  surrendering 
her  religion  for  the  sake  of  a  profitable  marriage. 

When  Luise  died  Germany  mourned  as  for  the  mother 
of  her  country.  The  journey  of  her  dead  body  from 
Hohenzieritz,  in  Mecklenburg,  to  Berlin  was  through  a 
throng  of  sad-hearted  people,  few  of  whom  could  restrain 
their  tears.*  They  laid  her  at  rest  in  her  favorite  grove 
at  Charlottenburg,  and  with  pious  hands  the  great 
sculptor  Rauch  reared  her  a  monument  in  marble  that  is 
the  marvel  of  the  thousands  who  yearly  come  to  stand 
by  her  tomb.  Pure  as  that  marble  were  her  heart  and 
her  life;  and  we  cannot  too  highly  prize  the  happy 
coincidence  that  gave  to  Rauch  the  task  of  doing  this 
labor  of  love — Rauch,  the  greatest  of  German  sculptors, 
whose  early  life  had  been  passed  about  the  person  of  his 
Queen,  whose  career  in  art  he  owed  to  her  whose  tomb 
he  chiselled.  The  body  of  Queen  Luise  was  dead,  but 
"  her  soul  went  marching  on." 

Queen  Luise  at  the  time  of  her  death  was  engaged 
in  writing  a  little  volume  of  moral  and  religious  reflec- 
tions, drawn  obviously  from  her  own  precious  and  pain- 

*  Even  to  our  day  the  pensants  of  Mecklenburg  point  out  to  the 
stranger  the  spot  where  the  coffin  of  Queen  Luise  rested  during  the 
funeral  journey  from  Hohenzieritz  to  Charlottenburg. — P.  B. 


THE   LAST   DAYS    OF   QUEEN    LUISE  209 

f ul  experiences.  This  little  album  contained  forty  pages, 
most  of  which  were  ornamented  by  her  with  flowers  in 
water-colors — mostly  lilies.  She  entitled  the  little  book 
Heavenly  Memories  (Eimmlische  Erinnerungeri),  and 
devoted  the  third  page  exclusively  to  this  motto : 

Recht,  Glaube,  Liebe. 
(Justice,  Faith,  Love.) 

Luise  was  no  hypocrite,  and  I  feel  sure  that  the 
reader  will  not  begrudge  the  space  I  shall  here  occupy 
in  reproducing  a  few  of  the  words  which  this  matchless 
Queen  has  left  us.* 

"  Auch  in  guten  Tagen  krSftige  ich  mich  durch  die  Religion  gegen 
die  B5sen  die  da  kommen  kOnnen,  und  in  diesem  Bronzenen  (sic) 
Seculum  nicht  ausbleiben  werdeu. — Potsdam,  1803." 

("In  happy  days,  too,  I  fortify  myself  with  Religion  against  the  evil 
days  which  may  come,  and  in  this  bronze  age  [a  hit  at  Napoleon] 
must  be  expected.") 

"  Der  Mensch  lebt  von  Erinnerungen.  Wenn  man  sich  nur  Gutes 
von  sich  zu  erinnern  hat,  so  kann  man  nie  ganz  ungliicklich  seiu. — 
Potsdam,  1803." 

("Man  lives  upon  memories.  He  who  has  none  but  pleasant  ones 
regarding  his  life  can  never  be  wholly  unhappy.") 


"Ein  Trost  des  moralischen  Menschen  ist,  dass  ihn  Gott  nicht  ganz 
verlassen  kann.  Kommt  die  Hlilfeauch  nicht  schnell,  siekommtdoch 
gewiss. — ilemel,  1807." 

("The  man  of  upright  purpose  has  one  comfort  at  least,  that  God 
cannot  wholly  abandon  him.  Help  may  be  long  in  coming,  but  it 
will  surely  come.") 

*  The  Duke  of  Cumberland,  whose  father  was  the  last  King  of  Han- 
over, kindly  placed  this  precious  manuscript  in  my  hands,  with  per- 
mission to  make  the  contents  public.  Unfortunately  I  am  not  able  to 
explain  satisfactorily  the  particular  occasion  for  many  of  these  strange 
expressions. — P.  B. 
I.— 14 


210  THE   GERMAN   STRUGGLE   FOR    LIBERTY 

"  Man  knnn  mit  Recht  sagen,  dass  nur  indera  wir  thun  was  Reclit  ist, 
und  wir  unserer  Pflicht  leben,  wir  uns  des  Glilckes  wurdig  machen. 
Ob  wir  es  theilhaftig  werden,  steht  iu  Gottes  Hand. — Memel,  1807." 

("It  may  be  said  with  truth  that  we  deserve  happiness  only  by  doing 
what  is  right  and  living  according  to  our  sense  of  duty.  But  whether 
we  shall  attain  happiness  rests  with  God.") 


"  Wer  das  gesagt  hat,  dass  nichts  schrecklicher  sei  als  die  gute  Mei- 
nung  die  man  von  einem  Menschen  hat,  zurucknehmen  zu  miissen, 
der  hat  recht  gesagt.  Es  schmerzt  filrchterlich  !  Dennoch  glaube  ich 
mehr  als  je,  dass  es  eine  Tugend  giebt,  und  dass  sie  allein  uns  auch 
schon  hier  auf  Erden  begliicken  kann. — Konigsberg,  Mai,  1809." 

("  Whoever  said  this  spoke  true  :  that  there  is  nothing  on  earth 
more  dreadful  than  to  be  forced  to  withdraw  the  good  opinion  once 
held  of  a  fellow-man.*  It  is  frightful  pain  !  But  in  spite  of  it  all  I 
believe  more  firmly  than  ever  that  there  is  such  a  thing  as  virtue,  and 
that  it  alone  can  make  us  happy,  even  while  yet  on  earth.") 


"  Also  mache  ich  die  Augen  zu,  und  falte  die  Hande  ;  und  sage  so 
oft  ich  nur  kann  :  Wir  alle  stehen  in  deiner  Hand,  Gott ;  verlass  uns 
nicht ! — 1809."  (No  place  given.) 

("And  so  I  close  my  eyes  and  fold  my  hands,  and  keep  repeating 
over  and  over  attain  :  We  all  are  in  thy  hands.  Forsake  us  not, 
O  God  !"  N.)  

"  Ich  las  heute  eine  Stelle  die  mir  gefiel,  weil  sie  wahr  ist :  '  Leiden 
und  Elend  sind  Gottes  Segen,  wenn  sie  uberstanden  sind.'  Auch  ich, 
mitten  in  meinem  Elend  sage  schon  :  Wie  naher  bin  ich  bei  Gott ; 
wie  deutlich  sind  meine  Gefuhle  von  der  Unsterblichkeit  der  Seele  zu 
begriffen  geworden  ! — Kouigsberg,  Marz,  1809." 

("This  morning  I  read  a  passage  which  pleased  me  because  it  is  the 
truth  :  'Suffering  and  misery  are  blessings  from  God  when  we  have 
endured  them.'  And  I,  too,  in  the  midst  of  my  wretchedness  already 
say  :  How  much  nearer  am  I  to  God  ;  how  much  more  dear  to  me 
have  become  my  feelings  regarding  the  immortality  of  the  soul !") 

*It  is  possible  that  Queen  Luise  here  has  reference  to  the  Czar  Alex- 
ander, who  had  in  past  years  professed  complete  devotion  to  her 
husband's  cause.— P.  B. 


THE    LAST   DAYS    OF   QUEEN    LUISE  211 

"  Nie  kann  der  Mensch  ftlr  den  Ausgang  seiner  Unternehmungen 
stehen  ;  wenn  aber  die  Entschliisse  die  man  nahm  einen  guten  Zweck 
Imben,  so  muss  das  weitere  in  Gottes  Hand  gelegt  werden. — Konigs- 
berg,  1809." 

("  No  man  can  guarantee  the  result  of  his  enterprise ;  but  when  a  de- 
cision is  taken  with  a  good  purpose  in  view,  then  may  we  leave  the 
result  in  the  hand  of  God."*) 


"  Ach  !  Bei  alien  verschiedenen  Verwirrungen  nur  einen  Augen- 
blick  Ueberlegung,  und  alles  in  der  Welt  hatwieder  seinen  angewie- 
senen  Platz,  welchen  Gottes  Vorsehung  bestimmt.  Das  Auge  empor 
gehoben,  die  Seufzer  zum  Himmel  geschickt  und  ein  Gebet  um  neue 
Starke,  so  geht  es  gewiss ;  denn  Gott  verlasst  nicht  die  Ihn  lieben 
und  die  Ihn  vertrauen. — K5uigsberg,  August,  1809." 

("  Ah  me  !  In  the  midst  of  many  confusions,  only  stop  for  a  moment 
and  reflect ;  and  everything  in  the  world  will  be  found  in  the  place 
prepared  for  it  by  God's  foresight.  With  our  gaze  fixed  on  things 
above,  a  sigh  sent  to  Heaven,  and  a  prayer  for  new  strength,  we 
shall  thus  be  able  to  endure,  for  God  does  not  abandon  those  who  love 
him  and  trust  in  him.") 

"Ach!  Hatte  der  Mensch  doch  eine  Statte  wo  seiner  bewegten 
Seele  ganz  wohl  werden  k5nnte  ;  wo  so  manches  Sehnen  gestillt,  so 
manclie  Tlirane  mit  Gewissheit  getrocknet  werden  konnte  ! 

"  So  saufzte  ich  oft.  Allein  ich  finde  diese  Statte  nirgends  auf 
Erden.  Aber  meine  Saufzer  erheben  sich  eudlich  als  heilige  Gedan- 
ken  zu  Gott  und  ich  werde  gestarkt  durch  denGlauben. — 1809."  (No 
place  given.) 

("Ah,  if  man  had  only  a  place  where  he  could  find  peace  for  his 
worried  soul,  where  so  many  a  yearning  could  be  quieted,  so  many  a 
tear  be  dried  with  certainty  ! 

"  Often  did  I  sigh  like  this.  But  I  found  no  such  place  of  rest  on 
earth.  At  lust,  however,  my  sighs  go  up  to  God  as  sacred  memories, 
and  I  become  strong  through  faith.") 

These  are  the  last  words  of  Queen  Luise  in  this  her 
moral  and  religious  testament. 

*This  may  be  construed  into  a,  defence  of  Schill,  who  in  this  year 
made  his  rebellions  raid  against  Napoleon. 


XXI 

A  NURSERY  VIEW  OF  KING,  QUEEN,  AND  POLITICS 

"So  soil  dein  Bild  auf  unsern  Fahnen  schweben 
Und  soil  uns  leuchten  durch  die  Nacht  zum  Sieg! 
Luise  sei  der  Schutzgeist  deutscher  Sache, 
Luise  sei  das  Losungswort  zur  Rache !" 

— Theodor  Korner,  March  19,  1813,  from  his  poem  entitled  "An 
Unsere  Verklarte  K5nigin  "  (To  our  Queen  in  Heaven). 

ONE  of  the  most  conspicuous  figures  of  the  Berlin 
court  in  the  days  of  Napoleon  was  named  Yoss  (V  pro- 
nounced F),  a  punctilious,  conscientious  court  lady  who 
kept  a  diary,*  which  closed  only  with  her  death  at  the 
age  of  nearly  eighty-six.  When  already  an  old  woman 
she  became  chief  companion  to  Queen  Luise,  but  that 
years  meant  little  with  her  may  be  inferred  from  entries 
in  her  diary,  telling  of  long-sustained  dances  when  she 
was  eighty-one  and  eighty-two  years  of  age. 

Her  diary,  which  deals  with  royalty  and  politics,  is  a 
most  precious  legacy,  for  it  is  full  of  odds  and  ends  of 

*  The  manuscript  diary  of  Countess  Voss  has  not  yet  been  published, 
though  a  much  garbled  version  of  it,  entitled  "Sixty-nine  Years  at 
the  Prussian  Court,"  has  appeared  in  German.  The  original  is  in 
French,  and  in  a  handwriting  so  bad  that  the  most  expert  manuscript 
readers  at  the  Record  offices  of  both  Berlin  and  London  found  tlie 
task  of  deciphering  unusually  difficult.  This  diary  was  kindly  placed 
at  my  disposal  by  the  present  Count  Voss,  a  direct  descendant  of  the 
famous  di;irist.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  this  precious  MS.  may  some 
day  be  giveu  lo  the  world  exactly  as  it  was  penned. — P.  B. 


A   NURSERY    VIEW   OF   KING,  QUEEN,  AND    POLITICS      213 

information  unconsciously  let  fall  by  her  courtly  quill. 
The  names  of  Germany's  great  men  are  scarcely  heard 
in  these  pages,  though  this  is  the  age  of  Scharnhorst 
and  Stein,  of  Gneisenau  and  Bliicher.  Still  she  was  a 
power  in  history  when  the  mood  of  the  King  meant 
more  than  that  of  all  the  wise  men  of  his  kingdom. 

In  1798  she  made  the  long,  sandy  journey  from  Berlin 
to  Konigsberg  on  the  Baltic,  accompanying  Frederick 
William  III.  and  his  beautiful  Queen  Luise.  It  was  the 
coronation  journey,  for  the  Kings  of  Prussia  were  by 
custom  crowned  in  the  old  capital  of  Prussia.  Countess 
Voss  wrote  that  the  King  was  soon  bored  and  vexed  by 
the  interminable  demonstrations  of  loyalty  on  the  way. 
She  did  not,  however,  remind  him  that  Louis  XVI. 
would  have  suffered  it  most  cheerfully  in  his  stead. 
The  roads  were  then  very  bad,  and  two  carriages  broke 
down  in  two  days. 

From  Konigsberg  the  royal  party  proceeded  to  War- 
saw, which  was  then  a  part  of  Prussia,  but  now  belongs  to 
Russia.  The  Poles  of  that  day  appear  to  have  preferred 
German  to  Russian  rule,  for  the  royal  family  not  only 
took  no  unusual  precaution  against  assassination,  but 
appear  to  have  been  much  pleased  by  their  stay  in  the 
beautiful  capital  of  the  old  Polish  kings.  "  Man  betet 
sie  hier  formlich  an,"  says  Countess  Yoss,  speaking  of 
the  feeling  of  Poles  for  Luise.  Nor  is  this  strange. 
Poland  is  the  home  of  beautiful  women  and  chivalrous 
men  ;  and  in  such  a  country  the  beautiful  young  Queen 
soon  made  herself  popular. 

This  first  royal  journey  lasted  somewhat  more  than  a 
month,  and  gave  practical  demonstration  to  Europe  that 
whatever  force  republicanism  had  in  France,  in  Prussia 
there  was  a  pretty  general  confidence  in  monarchical 
institutions. 


214  THE   GERMAN   STRUGGLE   FOR    LIBERTY 

In  the  next  year  (1799)  the  royal  party  made  a  two- 
months'  tour  in  the  other  parts  of  Prussia,  and  there  as 
well  Queen  Luise  became  a  popular  favorite,  though 
Countess  Voss's  diary  maintains  discreet  silence  about 
the  King. 

In  1801  Luise  presented  the  king  with  a  sixth  child, 
and  in  the  next  summer  made,  with  her  husband,  a  long 
journey  to  the  extreme  northeastern  corner  of  Prussia  to 
meet  the  new  Russian  Czar,  Alexander  I.  The  personal 
friendship  of  Alexander  and  Frederick  William  was  dis- 
astrous to  Prussia,  for  it  gave  one  weak  man  a  pretext 
for  depending  upon  another  still  more  weak.  Yoss  says 
of  Alexander :  "  He  appears  to  have  a  soft,  benevolent 
disposition."  In  1807  she  cursed  his  softness,  for  he  be- 
came wax  in  the  hands  of  Napoleon. 

Luise  is  twice  referred  to  as  being  more  beautiful  than 
usual,  and  Alexander  was  very  attentive  —  who  can 
blame  him?  Old  lady  Voss  herself  is  much  moved, 
and  writes  (under  date  of  June  15,  1802)  of  Alexander: 
"He  is  the  most  amiable  man  it  is  possible  to  imagine, 
and  withal  most  honorable  in  his  views  and  objects.  The 
poor  fellow  is  completely  fascinated  by  the  Queen." 

On  the  4th  of  July,  1807,  the  old  lady  had  to  write  of 
this  same  man  of  honor  that  his  behavior  was  "  worse 
than  weak." 

She  might  have  said  so  earlier  had  she  known  what 
suggestions  this  honorable  Czar  was  circulating  in  St. 
Petersburg  in  regard  to  a  Queen  whose  pure  character 
was  never  assailed  by  any  other  man  save  a  Napoleon.* 

h  "L'Empereur  [Alexander  I.],  qui  alors  etaitfort  epris  autrepart,  me 
raconta  qu'il  avait  ete  serieusement  alarme  par  1'arrangement  des  cham- 
bresqui  commuiiiquaient  avec  la  sienne,  et  que,  pour  la  nuit,ils'enfer- 
mait  soigneusement  &  double  tour  pour  que  1'on  ne  vint  pas  le  surpren- 
dre  et  1'induire  &  des  tentations  trnp  dangereuses  qu'il  voulait  eviter. 


THK   MAUQUIK   DE   TAI.LKYKAM) 


A   NURSERY   VIEW   OF   KING,  QUEEN,  AND   POLITICS      215 

Prince  Czartoryski,  whose  memoirs  were  published 
in  1887,  and  who  was  one  of  this  Czar's  few  intimate 
friends,  reports  Alexander  as  complaining  that  Queen 
Luise  made  improper  advances  to  him  during  this  visit 
— as  damnable  a  bit  of  self-conceit  as  ever  entered  the 
head  of  a  twenty-five-year-old  autocrat. 

Memel  is  the  name  of  the  little  place  where  King  and 
Czar  spent  a  week  of  most  affectionate  intercourse — re- 
viewing troops,  feasting,  and  dancing.  Here  w-as  laid 
the  basis  of  a  friendship  which  the  Prussian  court  fondly 
hoped  was  to  protect  them  effectually  against  French 
invasion.  Memel  saw  Queen  Luise  and  her  husband 
again  after  the  battle  of  Jena — when  they  fled  for  their 
lives  towards  the  Russian  frontier. 

Countess  Voss  lets  us  see  at  many  points  that  Luise 
sympathized  with  the  German  patriots  who  preferred 
war  with  France  rather  than  peace  and  Napoleon's  alli- 
ance. But  the  King  kept  his  Queen  in  ignorance  of  the 
course  he  was  steering,  and  got  deeper  and  deeper  in  the 
slough  of  political  falsehood  and  treachery  At  last  we 
come  to  the  war  of  1806,  when  the  King  and  Queen  drove 
gayly  off  to  the  army  headquarters  at  Erfurt,  ten  days 
before  the  battle  of  Jena.  Countess  Voss  says,  naively, 
on  October  10th :  "  The  French  seem  to  be  every- 
where." And  so  they  were,  but  the  Prussian  generals 
were  the  last  to  know  of  their  whereabouts.  The  roads 
were  everywhere  abominable,  she  says.  On  the  13th 
she  is  driving  with  the  Queen  to  Auerstadt,  anticipating 
nothing  disagreeable,  when  the  carriage  is  ordered  back 
to  make  room  for  a  battle.  This  little  item  sufficiently 
illustrates  the  hopeless  ignorance  and  helplessness  pre- 
11  le  declara  mSme  tout  bonnement  aux  deux  princesses  [Luise  and  her 
sister]  avec  plus  de  franchise  que  de  galanterie  et  de  courtoisie." — 
Memoires  du  Prince  Adam  Czartoryski,  vol.  i.,  p.  296. 


216  THE  GERMAN   STRUGGLE    FOR   LIBERTY 

vailing  in  the  Prussian  headquarters,  for  what  else  can 
explain  this  stumbling  upon  a  battle-field  which  was  to 
contain  the  bulk  of  the  enemy's  army ! 

So  back  they  turn  from  the  battle-field  of  Jena,  and  on 
October  17th,  three  days  after  the  battle,  she  hears  for 
the  first  time  that  the  Prussian  army  is  destroyed,  and 
that  she  must  not  stop  to  pack  her  valuables,  but  hurry 
n  way  beyond  the  reach  of  Napoleon.  The  fact  that  the 
Queen  of  Prussia  heard  the  news  of  Jena  first  in  Berlin 
on  the  17th  tells  us  eloquently  how  backward  Prussia 
was  as  compared  with  France,  not  merely  in  posting 
facilities,  but  in  the  use  of  semaphores  for  telegraphing 
important  news. 

Luise  hurried  off  to  the  Baltic  coast  at  Stettin  on 
the  very  next  morning,  and  old  lady  Voss  followed  in 
twenty-four  hours ;  doing  her  best  meanwhile  towards 
getting  the  necessary  clothing  and  furniture  packed. 
But  one  day  was  too  little  for  her  purposes,  and  Napo- 
leon had  a  pleasant  time  ransacking  Luise's  private 
effects  and  reading  letters  which  should  have  been 
burned. 

No  sooner  had  poor  Luise  reached  Stettin  than  she 
received  an  order  to  hurry  off  to  Kiistrin  on  the  Oder, 
another  long  journey  which  she  had  to  make  in  a  small 
open  wagon.  In  fact,  the  royal  people  at  that  time 
were  glad  enough  to  get  on  in  any  shape,  so  long  as 
they  could  keep  out  of  Napoleon's  reach. 

On  October  25th  Countess  Voss  had  not  seen  her  dear 
Queen  for  a  week,  and  did  not  know  even  where  the 
King  was.  She  was  ordered  to  post  on,  over  very  bad 
roads,  to  another  Baltic  port,  Danzig,  and  there  to  look 
out  for  the  royal  children.  There  she  saw  Hardenberg 
on  October  28th,  and  he,  the  great  Minister  of  Foreign 
Affairs,  tells  Tante  Yoss  that  in  Kiistrin  he  saw  the 


A   NURSERY    VIEW   OF   KING,  QUEEN,  AND   POLITICS      217 

King,  who  "did  not  say  a  single  word  to  him."  Yet 
Hardenberg  was  one  of  the  few  men  in  Prussia  capable 
of  giving  the  King  good  advice.  On  the  30th  October 
the  old  lady's  diary  flashes  with  indignation  at  the  in- 
capacity, indecision,  and  blindness  of  those  in  author- 
ity ;  "  even  of  those  about  the  King."  Tante  Voss  is 
too  polite  to  say  that  it  takes  a  stupid  King  to  select  a 
stupid  council.  What  she  says  is  much,  however,  under 
the  circumstances. 

The  month  of  November,  1806,  opens  with  a  picture 
of  the  royal  family  of  Prussia  scattered  in  different 
parts  of  the  distracted  country  without  their  trunks  and 
scarcely  supplied  with  the  common  necessities.  Queen 
Luise  on  November  2d  writes  that  Prussia  need  expect 
no  future ;  she  hears  that  Jerome  Bonaparte  is  to  be- 
come King  of  Poland  and  Prussia ;  nor  is  the  imagina- 
tion startled  by  this  rumor. 

Pretty  soon  the  Yoss  has  even  a  worse  thing  to  chron- 
icle— an  insurrection  in  the  provinces  of  Prussia,  which 
were  once  Polish  :  "  Napoleon  is  trying  to  get  up  a  rev- 
olution in  Poland  !  He  is  a  monster !  May  God  destroy 
him !"  The  good  old  lady  should  have  blamed  Napoleon, 
not  for  rousing  the  Poles*  to  a  struggle  for  liberty,  but 
for  having  abandoned  them  after  encouraging  them  to 
declare  for  him. 

The  Christmas  of  1806  was  a  sad  one  at  the  court  of 
Queen  Luise,  for  she  lay  ill  in  bed,  and  no  one  was  allowed 
to  give  or  receive  presents.  The  royal  family  were  to- 
gether at  Konigsberg,  the  city  in  which  they  had  been 
crowned  so  recently  ;  but  now  they  counted  the  hours  to 
the  time  when  they  should  have  to  fly  for  their  lives  and 

*  After  Jena  the  Polish  officers  in  Prussian  service  preferred  to  go 
as  prisoners  to  France  rather  than  be  set  at  liberty  under  Hohenzol- 
lern  auspices.— Suckow,  p.  86. 


218  THE   GERMAN   STRUGGLE    FOR   LIBERTY 

seek  an  asylum  in  Kussia,  for  "  the  French  keep  driving 
us  before  them,  and  she  [Luise]  will  soon  be  in  danger 
here." 

On  the  5th  of  January,  1807,  the  wretched  Queen  had 
to  be  lifted  from  her  bed  to  start  on  her  dangerous 
journey  northward,  following  the  narrow  strip  of  sand 
which  separates  the  Baltic  from  the  species  of  brackish 
sound  called  the  Curische  Haff.  Old  Countess  Yoss  went 
ahead,  but  stopped  at  the  first  station,  for  "storm  and 
sleet  were  so  wild  that  the  horses  could  get  no  farther." 
The  Queen  followed  at  noon,  but  Voss  gives  no  evidence 
that  she  was  accompanied  by  her  husband. 

On  the  7th  of  January  the  old  lady's  diary  says: 
"  It  was  a  wild  storm,  with  thick  whirling  snow,  and  our 
way  lay  close  beside  the  sea.  We  had  no  shelter  from 
the  gale  ;  it  was  horrible." 

After  four  days  of  this  wretched  work,  in  which  the 
party  had  to  spend  the  night  as  best  they  might  wherever 
they  happened  to  alight,  they  arrived  at  the  little  town 
of  Memel,  in  the  most  northerly  part  of  the  kingdom  and 
that  nearest  to  Russia.  Luise  was  too  weak  to  walk,  and 
the  King  does  not  appear  to  have  sent  orders  ahead  in 
regard  to  her  comfort,  for  our  old  lady  enters  in  her  diary : 
"  As  no  invalid  chair  had  been  provided  to  take  her  from 
her  carriage  up  the  stairs,  a  servant  had  to  carry  her  upon 
his  arm ;  it  pained  me  to  see  this."  * 

This  very  severe  illness  of  Luise  lasted  from  December 
10th  to  January  17th,  when  she  took  her  first  outing 

*  In  the  Prussian  Record  Office  is  preserved  a  letter  of  Hardenberg, 
elated  August  14,  1810,  in  which  he  forbids  the  publication  of  a  work 
about  Queen  Luise.  The  author  of  this  work  was  one  who  signed 
himself  Hofrath  (court  councillor)  and  tutor  to  a  German  prince.  The 
reasons  advanced  by  the  Prussian  Prime-Minister  are  strangely  ob- 
scure.—P.  B. 


A    NURSERY   VIEW   OF   KING,  QUEEN,  AND    POLITICS      219 

as  convalescent — not,  however,  with  strength  enough 
to  walk  up-stairs.  That  she  survived  the  journey  from 
Konigsberg  to  Memel  caused  universal  surprise,  and  is  a 
valuable  tribute  to  the  curative  property  of  fresh  air,  even 
in  pretty  rude  doses. 


XXII 

THE  FIRST  NATIONAL   PRUSSIAN  PARLIAMENT  MEETS 
IN  BERLIN,  1811 

"  Wouldst  them  have  beauty  ? 
Give  to  the  people  freedom,  noble  thoughts, 
Employment  that  begets  great  deeds." 

—Leopold  Schefer  (born,  1784;  died,  1862),  "  Laienbrevier. " 

THE  23d  day  of  February,  1811,  should  be  celebrated 
with  particular  joy  hi  the  home  of  every  German  citi- 
zen, for  it  was  on  that  day  that  there  came  together  in 
Berlin  the  first  semblance  of  a  representative  national 
parliament.  Stein  had  wrung  this  concession  from  the 
Prussian  King  in  1807,  on  Christinas  Eve  ;  but  the  great 
reformer  did  not  stay  long  enough  in  office  to  carry  out 
more  than  the  provincial  features  of  his  great  scheme 
of  national  representation.  After  the  attainder  of  Stein 
by  Napoleon,  the  King  once  more  fell  back  upon  the 
support  of  ministers  and  courtiers  as  weak  as  himself, 
and  would  have  remained  content  with  his  surroundings 
had  not  Napoleon  rudely  called  upon  him  to  pay  more 
money  or  lose  more  territory.  In  this  dilemma  his 
courtiers  could  give  him  no  help,  and  he  allowed  Queen 
Luise  to  call  Hardenberg  back  from  exile. 

Hardenberg  *  and  Stein  are  two  striking  examples  of 

*  Rauch  of  course  saw  much  of  Hurdenberg,  who  sat  several  times 
to  the  sculptor.  Rauch  did  five  of  Hardenberg,  all  busts,  for  different 
notables — one  at  the  minister's  request.  The  one  I  have  selected  is  a 


THE    FIRST   NATIONAL   PRUSSIAN    PARLIAMENT  221 

German  statesmen.  Both  advocated  for  Prussia  meas- 
ures then  regarded  as  revolutionary,  yet  both  were  mem- 
bers of  noble  families.  Neither  was  born  in  Prussia, 
Stein  being  from  Nassau,  Hardenberg  from  Hanover. 

Stein  is  dearer  to  the  people's  heart ;  he  was  direct, 
honest,  rough  very  often,  and  occasionally  vented  his 
temper  without  reserve.  Hardenberg  kept  his  objects 
equally  in  view,  but  was  not  averse  to  devious  ways. 
No  matter  how  much  provocation  he  had,  his  manners 
were  always  courtly,  and  even  kindly. 

Hardenberg  was  more  of  a  cavalier,  Stein  very  much 
of  a  Puritan.  Stein  would  not  allow  a  dirty  story  to  be 
told  in  his  hearing ;  Hardenberg  was  ready  to  take  the 
world  much  as  he  found  it. 

Frederick  William  III.  grew  to  like  Hardenberg  as 
much  as  he  had  disliked  Stein.  The  courtly  Hanoverian 
approached  his  King  with  a  deference  which  Stein  scorned 
to  assume,  and  as  a  consequence  Hardenberg  soon  found 
himself  clothed  with  such  real  power  as  any  Prime-Min- 
ister might  have  envied. 

His  first  business  was,  of  course,  to  raise  more  money 
for  the  importunate  French,  and  to  do  so  without  driving 
the  people  of  Prussia  into  rebellion. 

He  drew  up  a  financial  scheme  for  the  King's  approval, 
and  then  went  off  to  talk  it  over  with  his  great  prede- 
cessor. But  Stein  was  living  in  Prague,  and  dared  not 
come  within  reach  of  Napoleon  for  fear  of  being  shot. 

marble  bust  46  centimeters  high.  It  has  more  simplicity  and  dignity 
than  the  others,  and  reflects  Hardenberg's  courtliness  of  disposition  in 
contrast  to  the  uncompromising  impetuosity  of  Stein,  Blucher,  and 
Gneisenau.  The  accompanying  picture  is  the  best  reproduction  I  know 
of  Hardenberg.  It  was  photographed  under  my  supervision  from  the 
original  in  the  Rauch  Museum  by  permission  of  the  director,  Professor 
Siemering.  What  a  pity  that  Rauch  did  not  also  make  a  study  of  Stein  ! 


223  THK   GERMAN   STRUGGLE    FOR    LIBERTY 

So  Ilardenberg  secretly  climbed  up  into  the  mountains 
separating  Bohemia  from  Silesia,  and  there  in  a  secluded 
hut  joined  Stein,  who  had  made  the  journey  from,  the 
other  side. 

They  had  a  full  and  frank  talk.  Stein  then  returned, 
down  the  southern  slopes,  to  his  Austrian  exile ;  Ilar- 
denberg returned  to  Berlin,  and  at  once  commenced  put- 
ting into  effect,  with  all  the  power  at  his  command,  the 
reform  bill  both  had  united  in  framing.  Hardenberg's 
chief  enemies  were  those  who  had  also  opposed  Stein— 
the  landed  aristocracy.  This  class  had  been  brought  up 
to  think  that  other  people  came  into  the  world  for  the 
purpose  of  being  their  servants.  They  regardec1  govern- 
ment as  an  institution  valuable  only  so  far  as  it  protected 
them  in  their  privileges.  The  Prussian  nobles  claimed 
all  the  offices  in  the  gift  of  the  King — in  fact,  they 
claimed  all  the  rights,  but  none  of  the  duties,  of  a  good 
citizen. 

Now  these  pretensions  had  some  force  in  the  early 
days,  when  armies  were  made  up  of  many  petty  barons 
or  ranch-owners,  who  led  their  own  farm  hands  into 
battle  at  their  own  expense.  In  those  good  old  days, 
say  of  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries,  a  peasant 
counted  for  something,  because  he  was  constantly  called 
upon  to  fight  for  the  owner  of  the  land  on  which  he  had 
his  little  farm.  In  fact,  stripped  of  humbug,  the  so- 
called  feudal  system  represented  a  large  number  of  big 
farms ;  each  farm  was  managed  by  the  farmer  who  could 
do  the  best  fighting,  and  that  farmer  had  to  treat  his 
farm  hands  well  for  the  sake  of  the  fighting  he  hoped  to 
get  out  of  them. 

Now  as  time  wore  on  and  artillery  improved,  wars 
grew  more  and  more  costly,  and  the  little  feudal  farm- 
ers found  that  they  could  make  no  head  against  armies 


THE    GIIEAT    BAKON    STEIN 


THE    FIRST   NATIONAL   PRUSSIAN   PARLIAMENT  223 

equipped  by  a  centralized  government.  They  therefore 
made  terms  with  their  King.  Henceforth  they  were  to 
become  loyal  subjects  of  the  crown ;  they  were  not  to 
make  war,  but  to  live  on  their  fields  peaceably  and  hold 
important  offices. 

The  good  peasants  had  been  well  treated  as  long  as 
their  landlords  required  them  to  be  killed  in  battle ;  but 
now  that  the  central  government  looked  after  the  sol- 
diers, the  landlords  had  no  further  use  for  their  peasants, 
excepting  to  get  as  much  labor  as  possible  out  of  them. 
So  little  by  little  the  noble  landlords  reduced  their 
peasantry  to  a  state  of  slavery.  The  peasants  were 
bound  to  the  farm  on  which  they  were  born ;  they 
owed  all  their  labor  to  their  landlord  ;  they  paid  taxes 
upon  everything  they  used  ;  they  had  even  to  buy  their 
beer  of  the  landlord's  brewery. 

Hardenberg  proposed  that  the  Prussian  nobles  should 
pay  their  share  of  the  national  debt  along  with  the  rest 
of  the  people.  And  to  make  his  financial  reform  possi- 
ble, he  at  once  issued  his  decree  making  the  peasants 
independent  of  their  landlords,  permitting  them  to  buy 
their  beer  from  whomsoever  they  chose.  In  this  man- 
ifesto was  proclaimed  that  one  Prussian  was  as  good  as 
another  before  the  law,  and  that  merit  alone  should  be 
regarded  in  selection  for  public  office. 

The  nobles  were  aghast  at  this  invasion  of  their  claims, 
and  promptly  besieged  the  King  with  a  petition  in  which 
Hardenberg  was  denounced  as  a  firebrand.  Harden- 
berg met  this  attack  by  proving  to  the  King's  satisfac- 
tion that  an  insult  to  the  King's  minister  was  somewhat 
akin  to  lese-majeste,  and  consequently  should  be  punished 
as  such. 

In  earlier  times  the  King  would  have  had  to  drag  a 
heavy  canuon  through  the  sands  of  Brandenburg  and 


224  THE   GERMAN    STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

batter  down  the  castle  of  the  obstreperous  barons.  On 
this  occasion  he  simply  sent  a  piece  of  paper  to  the  two 
noble  ringleaders,  and  these  were  promptly  taken  in 
charge  by  the  sheriff  and  locked  up  in  Spandau  fortress, 
in  sight  of  Berlin.  After  five  weeks  the  King  was  gra- 
ciously pleased  to  release  them  upon  receiving  their  ab- 
ject apologies. 

The  Prussian  nobles  had  shown  that  they  could  run 
away  from  the  enemy,  as  at  Jena,  and  Hardenberg  very 
soon  exploded  their  pretensions  to  privilege  by  showing 
them  up  as  people  who  were  evading  the  payment  of 
their  fair  share  of  taxes. 

The  great  National  Parliament  of  February  23,  1811, 
was  a  glorious  thing  in  name,  for  it  awakened  through- 
out Germany  the  belief  that  Prussia  had  at  length  at- 
tained by  a  stroke  of  the  pen  what  France  had  secured 
only  after  horrible  bloodshed.  The  King  had  used  the 
words  "  national  representation  "  in  connection  with  this 
gathering.  He  had  given  his  sanction  to  the  principle 
of  a  popular  legislative  body,  and  if  the  present  time 
might  appear  unfavorable  for  political  experiments,  still 
every  German  had  reason  to  believe  that  a  representa- 
tive legislative  body  under  suitable  constitutional  forms 
would  follow  as  soon  as  the  state  of  the  country  per- 
mitted. 

In  our  time  laws  are  submitted  to  the  legislative  body 
for  discussion.  The  first  Prussian  National  Parliament 
of  1811  was  conceived  from  another  point  of  view.  The 
King  first  published  his  law,  and  afterwards  called  a 
Parliament  to  indorse  it.  Hardenberg  addressed  the 
sixty-four  "  representatives  of  the  nation,"  and  informed 
them  that  he  had  called  them  together  on  this  occasion 
in  order  that  they  might  have  an  opportunity  of  asking 
questions  about  the  laws  that  had  been  passed.  He 


THE   FIRST   NATIONAL   PRUSSIAN    PARLIAMENT  225 

wished  them  to  understand  the  benefits  they  were  in- 
tended to  confer  on  Prussia,  and  he  wished  them  to  go 
home  after  the  session  prepared  to  make  these  reforms 
popular  amongst  all  classes. 

Nothing  better  illustrates  the  degree  to  which  patri- 
archal government  had  become  natural  to  Germans 
than  this  first  experiment  in  popular  assemblies.  The 
King  of  Prussia  played  the  role  usually  assigned  to  the 
clamorous  mob.  He,  the  monarch  absolute,  prepared  in 
secret  a  reform  measure  sweeping  away  aristocratic 
privilege,  and  calling  to  his  assistance  the  great  body 
of  the  people.  This  reform  bill  was  not  the  outgrowth 
of  mass-meetings  or  newspaper  agitation.  It  was  a  so- 
cial and  political  revolution  of  most  popular  character, 
framed  and  executed  under  the  immediate  and  exclusive 
control  of  an  absolute  monarch. 

The  German  is  a  strange  mixture  of  man — half  dem- 
ocrat, half  monarchist.  Those  who  know  Germany  su- 
perficially wonder  that  monarchy  can  last  under  the 
present  social  conditions  of  that  empire.  But  the  Ger- 
man, and  particularly  the  Prussian,  has  in  his  blood  tra- 
ditions of  kingly  rule  such  as  no  other  nation  can  point 
to.  He  does  not  deny  that  in  other  countries  great  re- 
forms have  been  accomplished  by  long  and  savage  civil 
wars;  he  is  quite  prepared  to  admit  that  in  many  re- 
spects his  political  progress  falls  short  of  what  he  might 
desire ;  but,  on  the  whole,  he  is  proud  of  a  long  line  of 
Hobenzollerns,  who  have  governed  Prussia  with  con- 
scientious thoroughness,  who  have  always  maintained 
liberty  of  conscience,  who  have  encouraged  common 
schools,  who  have  respected  the  independence  of  judges, 
and  who  in  their  own  persons  have  set  an  example  of 
industry. 

Frederick  William  III.  was  a  strangely  shy  and  weak 
I.— is 


226  THE   GERMAN   STRUGGLE   FOR  LIBERTY 

man,  who  nearly  ruined  his  country  by  his  lack  of  judg- 
ment and  lack  of  courage.  But,  as  though  by  a  miracle, 
Prussia's  very  disasters  brought  into  relief  a  handful  of 
great  patriots,  who  could  not  have  made  room  for  them- 
selves in  days  of  prosperity;  and  of  them  all  the  most 
important  was  a  woman,  Queen  Luise,  who  did  not 
even  live  to  see  the  beginnings  of  parliamentary  gov- 
ernment in  Berlin. 

The  strange  Parliament  of  sixty-four  members  lasted 
from  February  23  to  June  28,  1811.  Its  members  re- 
turned to  their  several  homes  to  tell  of  the  simplicity 
of  their  King's  life ;  to  answer  all  the  questions  about 
the  new  Prime -Minister;  to  descant  on  Hardenberg's 
tine  voice  and  presence,  his  force  and  talents,  his  patri- 
otic efforts,  and,  above  all,  to  spread  throughout  Ger- 
many a  knowledge  of  the  great  popular  forces  that  were 
then  at  work  stirring  up  war  against  the  French. 

Throughout  the  little  army  of  Prussia,  numbering 
42,000  in  all,  new  recruits  were  called  in  every  three 
months,  and  passed  rapidly  through  the  most  indispensa- 
ble drill,  to  be  discharged  after  ninety  days.  This  was 
the  soldiering  of  1811,  and  it  was  this  soldiering  which 
made  the  troops  of  1813,  who  routed  the  French  at 
Gross  Beeren  and  Leipzig,  who  stormed  the  intrench- 
ments  of  Wartenburg.  Bliicher,  Gneisenau,  and  Scharn- 
horst  worked  incessantly  during  this  1811  preparing  the 
country  for  a  war  which  they  saw  was  coming.  Na- 
poleon and  Alexander  had  awaked  from  their  dream  of 
clearest  friend,  and  in  this  1811  were  exchanging  diplo- 
matic threats. 

Prussia  was  therefore  between  two  fires,  in  that  Na- 
poleon might  crush  her  on  the  one  side,  and  Alexander 
on  the  other.  She  was  not  strong  enough  to  make  her 
armed  neutrality  respected.  She  had  to  choose. 


THE    FIRST   NATIONAL   PRUSSIAN   PARLIAMENT  227 

Hardenberg  made  up  his  mind  that  for  the  moment 
at  least  Napoleon  was  the  more  dangerous  enemy  to 
have.  He  made  the  King  profess  extravagant  friend- 
ship for  France,  and  promise  an  offensive  and  defensive 
alliance.  At  the  same  time  he  sent  word  to  Russia  that 
he  meant  very  well  by  the  Czar,  and  that  though  ap- 
pearances might  be  against  Prussia,  still  the  King  had 
good  intentions. 

Meanwhile  the  commanders  in  the  army  watched  with 
uneasiness  the  Russian  troops  moving  on  the  eastern 
frontier  and  the  French  garrisons  becoming  stronger. 
They  strengthened  themselves  as  well  as  they  could  by 
calling  in  all  furlough  men,  but  from  day  to  day  they 
did  not  know  whether  they  were  about  to  take  the  field 
with  Russia  against  France,  or  with  France  against 
Russia. 

In  the  spring  of  1811  Napoleon,  with  brutal  frankness, 
complained  of  Prussia's  warlike  activity,  and  ended  with 
the  words :  "  That  wretched  King  of  Prussia !  In  four 
weeks  there  may  be  nothing  left  of  him  but  a  Marquis 
of  Brandenburg." 

And,  indeed,  it  did  seem  as  though  Napoleon's  words 
were  not  without  reason.  During  that  feverish  winter 
of  1811  to  1812  the  French  encroached  more  and  more 
upon  Prussian  territory.  They  increased  their  garrisons 
in  Glogau,  Kiistrin,  and  Stettin,  three  important  forts 
on  the  river  Oder  which  practically  controlled  Prussia. 
They  acted  as  though  Prussia  were  in  all  but  name  a 
French  province.  Napoleon  had  sent  word  already  in 
October  that  he  would  make  no  treaty  with  Prussia  un- 
less she  placed  her  soldiers  under  his  orders.  It  was  to 
Frederick  William  a  case  of  stand  and  deliver. 

Hardenberg  on  November  2d  advised  the  King  to 
yield  everything  Napoleon  asked,  and  meanwhile  to 


228  THE    GERMAN    STRUGGLE    FOR    LIBERTY 

make  secret  alliances  with  Russia,  Austria,  and  Eng- 
land, looking  to  a  struggle  of  life  and  death  with  the 
oppressor. 

The  King  and  Hardenberg  here  played  an  obviously 
double  game.  But  let  those  judge  who  would  have 
dealt  more  honestly  under  the  circumstances.  Napo- 
leon held  a  pistol  to  the  head  of  his  Prussian  victim, 
and  made  him  sign  a  paper  under  penalty  of  extermi- 
nation. 

But  even  under  these  humiliating  terms  it  was  not 
known  whether  Napoleon  would  respect  the  Prussian 
flag.  French  troops  marched  across  Prussian  soil  with- 
out asking  permission,  and  it  depended  merely  upon  the 
whim  of  Napoleon  whether  he  should  not  once  more  oc- 
cupy Potsdam  and  Berlin  with  his  troops,  and  take  the 
King  prisoner  by  way  of  hostage. 

The  King's  travelling-carriage  was  packed,  and  every- 
thing was  kept  ready  for  immediate  flight,  in  case  the 
Corsican  made  a  move  to  kidnap  him  as  he  had  kid- 
napped the  Duke  of  Enghien.  The  garrison  of  Berlin, 
8000  men,  were  in  readiness  for  just  such  an  emergency, 
and  elaborate  instructions  had  been  issued  for  this  con- 
tingency. 

At  length,  on  the  3d  of  March,  1812,  arrived  Napo- 
leon's answer,  which  had  left  Paris  on  the  24th  of  Feb- 
ruary. Prussia  was  to  be  spared  for  the  present  on 
condition  that  she  made  war  against  Russia  with  20,000 
men  as  part  of  the  Grand  Army  of  Napoleon. 

And  so  this  was  the  end  for  which  Scharnhorst  and 
Bliicher,  Gneisenau  and  Stein,  had  been  working  so 
faithfully  and  with  so  much  secrecy.  The  men  whom 
they  had  trained  to  liberate  their  country  were  now  to 
join  with  Napoleon  in  making  his  yoke  still  more  heavy. 
It  did  indeed  seem  as  though  the  end  had  arrived. 


THE    FIRST   NATIONAL    PRUSSIAN    PARLIAMENT  229 

Hundreds  of  Prussian  officers  took  their  leave,  and 
sought  service  in  Russia,  in  Austria,  or  with  the  English. 

Once  more  the  French  occupied  poor  starved-out 
Prussia,  and  levied  contributions  in  every  village  on  their 
way.  They  did  not  respect  the  treaty  they  had  made, 
but  took  what  they  wanted  wherever  they  could  lay 
hands  on  it.  Spandau  was  occupied,  and  Berlin  re- 
ceived a  French  governor  once  more.  Napoleon  sent 
most  minute  instructions  to  his  generals  to  see  to  it  that 
no  popular  outbreaks  should  occur,  and  that  no  recruits 
should  be  levied  for  the  Prussian  army,  nor  any  military 
activity  indulged  in  during  the  Russian  campaign. 

But  the  Prussian  of  1812  was  not  the  Prussian  of 
1806.  Queen  Luise  had  lived  and  died ;  the  spirit  of 
Pestalozzi  had  worked  in  the  common  school ;  the  serf 
had  become  a  citizen  ;  the  hireling  soldier  Avas  now  a 
volunteer;  Stein  and  Hardenberg  had  awaked  public 
confidence  in  the  government ;  Scharnhorst  had  breathed 
the  ne\v  spirit  into  the  army;  Jahn  had  taught  his  ath- 
letic clubs  that  patriotism  was  not  a  thing  to  be 
ashamed  of ;  the  boys  of  Prussia  sang  songs  of  German 
unity  ;  the  poets  and  preachers  of  Germany  talked  of 
liberty  ;  and  the  boys  who  were  twelve  years  old  at 
Jena  could  shoulder  a  musket  in  the  year  of  grace  1813. 


XXIII 

JAHN,  THE  PATRIOT  WHO  FOUNDED  GYMNASTIC  SOCI- 
ETIES AND  TAUGHT  THE  SCHOOL  CHILDREN  TO 
PRAY  FOR  GERMAN  LIBERTY 

"Where  is  the  German's  fatherland  ? 
Is't  Swabia  ?    Is't  the  Prussian's  land  ? 
Is't  where  the  grape  glows  on  the  Rhine  ? 
Where  sea-gulls  skim  the  Baltic's  brine  ? 
Oh  no  !    More  wide,  more  great,  more  grand, 
Must  be  the  German's  fatherland." 

— From  Arndt's  "  Des  Deutschen  Vaterland." 

JAHN  is  to-day  commonly  known  as  the  German 
Father  of  Gymnastics  (Turnvater),  and  his  popular- 
ity flourishes  in  Berlin  unabated  —  a  popularity  some- 
what akin  to  that  of  Patrick  Henry  in  America.*  Jahn 
believed  in  Germany's  ultimate  liberation  when  the 
majority  despaired ;  he  set  about  training  the  school 
children  for  soldier  work ;  he  himself  was  the  first  to 
volunteer  for  the  War  of  Liberation  in  1813 ;  he  organ- 
ized the  students  of  Germany  into  a  patriotic  national 
force ;  he  wrote  and  preached  incessantly  on  the  duty 
of  Germans  one  to  the  other ;  and,  above  all,  never  ceased 
to  labor  for  a  liberal  constitution  and  a  united  empire. 

*  "His  wit  was  usually  as  bitiug  as  it  was  well  aimed.  He  hated 
the  French  furiously;  he  roused  the  young  athletes  to  enthusiasm,  and 
they  followed  him  blindly  ;  .  .  .  and  it  is  still  a  mystery  to  me  how 
he  escaped  arrest  by  the  French,  for  his  words  in  public  were  as  vio- 
lent as  in  private." — KlOden  (p.  291),  writing  of  1811. 


JAHN,  THE   PATRIOT  231 

Like  most  enlightened  patriots  of  his  time,  he  was 
arrested  for  treason,  imprisoned  more  than  once,  and 
kept  under  police  watch  for  twenty  years.  But  until 
his  death  he  never  lost  heart,  never  became  embittered, 
but  worked  on,  confident  that  his  country  would  reap 
the  seed  which  he  had  sown. 

Jahn  was  born  in  1778,  while  our  war  with  the  moth- 
er country  was  raging  in  America ;  while  his  fellow- 
Germans  were  being  sold  as  slave-soldiers  to  George 
III.  of  England ;  while  Frederick  the  Great  was  King5 
and  nobody  dreamed  that  the  people  could  safely  be 
trusted  with  a  share  in  the  government  of  their  country. 
By  birth  Jahn  was  a  Prussian — the  only  one  of  my 
Prussian  heroes  of  whom  this  can  be  said.  But  he  was 
only  with  one  leg  a  Prussian ;  the  other  was  always 
across  the  frontier. 

For  he  was  born  in  that  little  corner  of  the  map 
where  Prussia  unites  with  Hanover  and  Mecklenburg 
— countries  which  then  were  sovereign  states,  having 
their  own  monarchs,  armies,  and  custom-houses.  Jahn 
grew  up  to  regard  the  subjects  of  George  III.  in  Hanover 
and  those  of  the  Royal  Duke  of  Mecklenburg  as  quite 
naturally  his  own  people,  in  spite  of  custom-houses  and 
different  uniforms.  Local  jealousy  produced  occasional 
fights  on  market  days,  but  these  amounted  to  no  more 
than  the  present  rivalry  between  the  athletes  of  our  dif- 
ferent colleges.  The  states  of  northern  Germany  re- 
sembled in  a  rough  way  those  of  New  England ;  each 
state  was  jealous  of  the  other,  yet  each  looked  to  the 
other  as  its  natural  ally  in  case  of  invasion.  Political 
ambition  and  selfishness  kept  them  apart,  yet  all  spoke 
the  same  German  tongue ;  all  looked  up  to  Frederick 
the  Great  as  the  champion  of  German  Protestants ;  all 
read  the  Bible  of  Martin  Luther. 


832  THE   GERMAN    STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

To  Germany  it  is  of  great  importance  that  such  a 
strong  nature  as  Jahn's  developed  at  a  place  where  he 
felt  as  a  citizen  of  the  great  German  nation  rather  than 
a  subject  merely  of  Prussia.  His  home  too,  a  village 
named  Lenz,  or  Lenzen,  was  on  the  highway  of  German 
land  and  water  intercourse  between  the  chief  political 
and  commercial  centres  of  Germany.  By  his  door 
passed  the  traders  of  Hamburg  on  their  way  to  Berlin, 
either  on  the  sandy  post-road  or  by  way  of  the  Elbe, 
which  then,  as  now,  was  an  important  channel  of  com- 
merce. Travellers  from  Bavaria,  Saxony,  Austria,  the 
Rhine,  were  apt  to  pass  here  on  the  way  northward 
to  the  Baltic  or  North  Sea  ports.  In  those  slow-coach 
days,  when  news  was  conveyed  largely  by  passengers 
who  chatted  while  horses  were  changed,  the  little  vil- 
lage of  Lenz,  small  as  it  was  and  obscure,  heard  of 
the  outside  world  then  pretty  nearly  as  much  as  the 
clubs  of  the  capital.  Jahn's  home  was  situated  in  re- 
spect to  North  Germany  as  favorably  as  might  be  con- 
sidered Hartford  or  Springfield  one  hundred  years  ago 
as  regards  New  England. 

Another  element  in  the  making  of  Jahn  was  that  his 
neighbors  were  all  free  farmers;  and  he  says,  with 
pride,  that  in  his  youth  he  was  never  forced  to  bow  his 
head  to  landlords,  or  any  master  save  such  as  represent- 
ed wholesome  authority.  He  knew  liberty  from  hav- 
ing lived  in  a  self-governing  community,  and  preached 
liberty,  not  as  revolution,  but  as  the  extension  of  a  sys- 
tem whose  practical  benefits  he  had  enjoyed.  It  is  not 
too  much  to  say  that  Jahn  grew  up  with  as  much  per- 
sonal liberty  as  was  enjoyed  by  the  average  New  Eng- 
land lad  of  the  same  period. 

Jahn's  parents  were  poor,  but  able  to  give  their  son 
what  educational  advantages  the  small  place  afforded — 


nw^L 
V 


TIIK    I'ATKIOT    FICIITE 


JAHN,  THE   PATRIOT  233 

which  was  not  much.  His  father  was  the  Lutheran 
clergyman,  whom  all  accounts  unite  in  pronouncing  a 
man  of  excellent  character,  a  good  preacher,  and  of 
superior  intelligence.  His  mother  was  more  remarkable 
still — of  rare  courage,  simplicity,  honesty,  and  dislike  of 
pretension.  She  dressed  much  as  the  peasants  about 
her,  and  was  the  terror  of  those  who  affected  so-called 
fashionable  life.  To  her  last  days  she  insisted  upon 
making  her  own  bed,  sweeping  her  own  room,  and 
doing  her  own  work  generally. 

They  were  both  profoundly  religious,  and  Jahn  all 
his  life  treated  Luther's  Bible  as  the  most  precious 
book  in  the  world.  His  mother  knew  it  almost  by 
heart,  and  had  a  text  for  every  trouble.  She  taught 
her  son  the  beauty  of  its  language  and  the  power  of  its 
promises,  and  the  teaching  he  received  at  his  mother's 
knee  is  reflected  in  his  public  utterances  and  in  his 
writings  to  the  day  of  his  death. 

Prussia  was  then  to  Germany  what  New  England 
was  to  North  America — a  land  of  simple  fare,  hard 
work,  strong  thinking,  clean  living.  The  Puritans  of 
Europe  lived  in  Prussia,  and  Jahn  was  chief  of  them, 
lie  grew  up  in  a  set  of  ideas  that  surrounded  Oliver 
Cromwell  and  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  and  these  ideas 
became  stronger  as  he  saw  the  world  more.  In  later 
years,  whether  in  Vienna  or  Paris  or  Berlin,  he  re- 
mained the  rough,  uncompromising  Puritan  in  speech 
and  life. 

Jahn  had  no  systematic  education  in  the  academic 
sense,  and,  above  all,  in  that  of  modern  Germany.  He 
learned  to  swim  and  shoot  and  climb  trees  and  find  his 
way  alone  by  starlight ;  in  all  these  arts  he  soon  became 
expert.  But  he  had  a  very  checkered  career  at  school. 
He  is  said  to  have  studied  at  ten  universities,  which  is 


284  THE   GERMAN    STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

almost  equivalent  to  saying  that  he  did  no  studying 
at  all.  In  his  later  years  it  was  an  obstacle  to  his  secur- 
ing a  government  appointment  that  he  had  not  passed 
through  the  usual  academic  course  of  study,  and  the  title 
of  doctor,  which  the  University  of  Jena  in  later  years 
granted  him,  was  more  a  recognition  of  his  services  as 
patriot  than  as  scholar. 

Down  to  the  year  1806,  the  year  of  Jena,  when  Jahn 
was  twenty-eight  years  of  age,  we  have  but  fitful  glances 
at  this  strange,  strong  man.  He  appears  at  several  uni- 
versities, amongst  others  Jena,  Gottingen,  Greifswald, 
and  Halle ;  he  is  generally  conspicuous  for  very  shabby 
clothes,  total  absence  of  money,  strong  disposition  to  ac- 
quire knowledge,  and  equally  strong  disposition  to  be  a 
law  unto  himself.  He  is  commonly  reported  as  being  a 
very  rough  diamond,  yet  wherever  he  appears  he  com- 
mands a  following.  As  a  student  he  opposed  duelling, 
and  proposed  that  the  different  fighting  corps,  instead  of 
instigating  duels,  should  march  out  in  two  bodies  with 
pikes  and  bludgeons,  have  a  pitched  battle,  and  then 
declare  peace.  For  this  he  incurred  the  savage  hostility 
of  the  corps  students,  and  many  were  the  attempts 
made  to  haze  him  at  Jena  and  elsewhere.  He  was  fre- 
quently waylaid,  but  always  fought  his  way  successfully 
through  with  the  help  of  a  stout  stick,  which  he  usually 
carried,  and  which  he  handled  with  skill.  He  also  took 
care  to  have  clothes  so  padded  as  to  form  a  species  of 
armor.  At  night  he  carried  a  stone  in  a  handkerchief 
—something  in  the  nature  of  a  slung-shot — and  this 
weapon  was  the  most  effective  of  all,  in  his  opinion. 

At  Halle  he  spent  a  whole  summer  in  a  cave,  living 
chiefly  from  the  proceeds  of  a  potato -patch  adjoining. 
Here  he  slept  and  read  and  studied ;  and  here  he  pro- 
duced  his  first  book,  in  the  year  of  1800  —  a  passionate 


JAHN,  THE   PATRIOT  235 

appeal  to  Germans  to  be  true  to  themselves,  to  culti- 
vate a  love  of  what  was  German,  and  thus  work  towards 
national  unity  and  power. 

Our  hero  led  the  life  of  a  fighting  tramp  as  far  as  out- 
ward signs  speak,  and  we  cannot  trace  anywhere  a  ref- 
erence to  him  during  his  student  years  that  does  not 
seem  to  exclude  him  from  cultivated  society.  He  was 
a  man  of  direct,  honest,  and  fearless  nature,  and  cannot 
have  spent  ten  years  of  his  early  manhood  living  mere- 
ly by  borrowing  or  stealing.  He  undoubtedly  received 
small  remittances  from  home,  but  whatever  they  were 
he  was  perpetually  in  financial  distress. 

His  education  he  received  mainly  in  long  and  lonesome 
tramps  across  Germany  in  all  directions.  His  memory 
was  excellent,  and  his  mind  became  the  storehouse  of  a 
vast  amount  of  German  folk-lore — popular  songs  and  say- 
ings which  have  since  enriched  his  language.  On  these 
tramps  he  hardened  the  muscles  of  his  body,  and  grew 
stronger  also  in  the  conviction  that  Germany  was  des- 
tined to  be  an  empire.  He  talked  and  fought  with  Ger- 
mans of  all  degrees  and  all  principalities;  he  saw  on  all 
sides  evidence  that  Germany  was  helpless  because  she 
was  divided,  that  France  was  strong  because  she  had 
one  leader. 

The  passion  for  travel  and  tramping  was  keen  in  Jahn, 
as  it  is  with  those  who  take  interest  in  the  history  of  a 
people  and  work  for  its  welfare.  One  may  almost  say 
that  the  statesman's  power  lies  principally  in  the  person- 
al knowledge  he  is  able  to  acquire  of  the  people  for  whom 
he  proposes  legislation.  The  quiet,  popular  leader  has 
usually  been  a  thorough  traveller,  in  his  own  country 
at  least.  Luther  knew  every  foot  of  his  Germany  before 
he  became  head  of  the  Protestant  Church,  and  few  Amer- 
icans of  his  day  knew  the  people  of  the  thirteen  colonies 


286  THE    GERMAN   STRUGGLE    FOR   LIBERTY 

so  well  as  Benjamin  Franklin.  Jahn's  tramping  tastes 
were  shared  to  an  almost  equal  degree  by  the  rest  of 
Germany's  liberators. 

Arndt  was  a  most  inveterate  tramp,  and  the  others  had 
all  a  familiarity  with  the  principal  German  states,  to  say 
nothing  of  non- German  countries.  To  this  thorough 

O  W 

tramping  we  must  credit  the  accurate  knowledge  of  the 
public  mind  in  Germany  which  Jahn  and  his  fellow-liber- 
ators acquired.  This  knowledge  was  put  to  most  im- 
portant account  when  preparing  political  addresses  and 
songs  intended  not  for  one  state  but  for  all — intended  to 
inflame  the  zeal  of  the  people,  and  at  the  same  time  not 
shock  the  princely  governments  and  their  cautious  ser- 
vants. 

In  reading  the  great  plays  of  Shakespeare  and  noting 
the  marvellous  tact  with  which  he  treats  questions  of  race, 
religion,  nationality,  and  class  distinction,  may  we  not 
safely  conclude  that  his  plays  could  not  have  been  so 
enduring  had  their  author  not  been  a  great  tramp  ?  Jahn 
tramped  and  read ;  wrote  and  talked ;  studied  his  peo- 
ple ;  dreamed  of  a  day  when  Germans  would  no  longer 
be  ashamed  of  talking  their  mother  tongue.  He  was 
laughed  at  as  a  man  ahead  of  his  time ;  for  the  people 
who  pretended  to  culture  in  that  day  not  only  correspond- 
ed in  French  and  talked  to  one  another  in  French,  they 
even  regarded  it  as  not  unnatural  that  Europe  should  be 
one  vast  Napoleonic  empire,  in  which  French  models 
should  be  exclusively  copied  and  German  things  be  stud- 
ied as  things  of  a  ruder  age. 

In  these  days  came  a  great  national  crash.  Napoleon 
defeated  the  Prussians  at  Jena,  robbed  them  of  half  their 
country,  and  treated  them  afterwards  as  though  they  had 
been  a  tribe  of  turbulent  savages. 

Between  1806  and  1810  the  Prussian  monarch  and 


JAHN,  THE   PATRIOT  237 

Jahn  lived  like  hunted  poachers ;  the  King  was  chased 
from  Jena  up  along  the  bleak  Baltic  shores  to  the  ex- 
tremity of  his  kingdom,  and  did  not  return  to  Berlin 
until  Christmas  of  1809.  Jahn  followed  the  remnants 
of  the  Prussian  army  from  the  same  field,  managed  also 
to  elude  capture,  and  wandered  also  along  the  Baltic 
shores.  In  every  place  at  which  he  stopped  he  preached 
the  regeneration  of  Germany ;  he  encouraged  the  de- 
spondent; he  strengthened  the  purpose  of  the  coura- 
geous. Poor  and  outcast  as  he  was,  his  country  over- 
run  with  French  troops,  officials,  and  spies,  he  produced 
in  these  days  a  book  which  is  still  a  power  in  the  father- 
land, and  at  that  time  made  him  at  once  an  apostle  to 
the  patriots — a  suspect  to  the  French  governors. 

This  book  was  called  Deutsches  Volksthum,  a  word  I 
can  with  difficulty  reproduce  without  using  many — say, 
German  popular  life  and  thought.  In  its  pages  are 
prophecies  realized  in  1871 — one  people,  one  nation,  one 
empire,  and  all  united  under  one  legal  constitution. 

In  the  political  testament  of  Jahn  are  these  words : 

"  The  unity  of  Germany  was  the  dream  of  my  awaken- 
ing life — the  light  of  dawn  to  my  boyhood.  In  the 
strength  of  my  manhood  it  was  a  sun  at  noon,  and  is 
now  the  evening  star  that  lights  me  to  everlasting  rest." 

Jahn  was  at  the  close  of  his  life  when  he  put  these 
words  on  paper;  he  had  suffered  many  disappointments, 
and  he  died  at  a  time  when  German  empire  and  German 
constitution  seemed  fit  for  the  brain  only  of  a  madman 
or  dreamer.  But  the  dream  of  Jahn  was  in  1809  the 
dream  of  many  Germans  in  many  separate  states ;  and 
notably  was  it  steadily  kept  in  view  by  such  practical 
Germans  as  Stein  and  Gneisenau,  by  Kdrner  and  Arndt. 
In  looking  back  upon  German  history  from  the  stand- 
point of  to-day,  when  Germany  has  her  constitution,  her 


238  THE   GERMAN    STRUGGLE    FOR   LIBERTY 

free  press,  her  right  of  free  speech,  her  universal  suf- 
frage, and,  above  all,  her  unity,  let  us  not  forget  that 
these  blessings  to  her  national  life  were  earnestly  prayed 
for  and  fought  for  by  the  fathers  and  grandfathers  of 
the  soldiers  who  fought  at  Sedan  and  Metz ;  that  Ger- 
man unity  and  empire  were  prepared  by  the  German 
people  while  Napoleon  I.  (not  Napoleon  III.)  was  Em- 
peror of  the  French. 

From  Christmas  of  1809  Jahn  became  the  most  con- 
spicuous popular  figure  in  Berlin,  and  was  credited  with 
intimate  secret  relations  with  the  anti-French  patriots 
throughout  Germany,  notably  in  the  universities.  To 
Napoleon's  officials  he  was  an  archrebel,  as  was  Benja- 
min Franklin  to  those  of  George  III.,  and  for  very  much 
the  same  reason — that  both  enjoyed  to  an  eminent  de- 
gree the  confidence  of  the  people. 

In  Berlin  Jahn  secured  a  teacher's  position  and  salary 
in  a  great  public  school,  and  soon  developed  the  qualities 
which  earn  him  to-day  the  proud  title  of  Turnvater — 
father  of  gymnastic  tournament.  He  used  to  take  his 
favorite  pupils  out  into  the  country  on  holidays  and 
there  interest  them  in  rough,  manly  games,  leaping, 
wrestling,  and  running  as  well.  He  had  a  rare  gift  for 
leadership  over  young  minds,  and  to  go  out  with  Jahn 
soon  came  to  be  regarded  by  the  school  children  as  so 
much  of  a  treat  that  the  "  Turn  "  Father  conceived  the 
notion  of  organizing  classes  for  the  purpose  of  conduct- 
ing gymnastic  exercises  with  system. 

Already  in  1811  a  sandy  field  near  Berlin*  was  secured, 

*  This  field  lay  on  the  edges  of  what  is  now  the  great  exercising- 
ground  of  the  Berlin  garrison.  A  monument  to  Jahn  has  since  been 
here  erected,  thanks  to  the  patriotic  contributions  of  gymnasts  in 
every  part  of  the  world.  The  stones  in  the  base  of  this  monument 
were  sent  from  far-away  countries ;  some  are  marked  South  Africa, 


JAHN,  THE   PATRIOT  239 

and  here  commenced  those  valuable  gymnastic  exercises 
which  now  form  part  of  the  curriculum  in  every  German 
school,  and  which  Germans  have  carried  with  them  to 
every  corner  of  the  civilized  and  uncivilized  world,  along 
with  the  love  of  song.  Singing  in  unison  goes  hand  in 
hand  with  outdoor  exercise,  and  Jahn  quickly  recognized 
the  intimate  relation  between  these  two  great  forces. 
Singing  was  at  once  made  a  part  of  the  gymnastic  exer- 
cises, particularly  on  the  march  to  and  from  the  field  of 
exercise,  and  Jahn  took  great  pains  in  selecting  songs 
breathing  manhood  and  love  of  country. 

Gymnastic  drill  does  not  suggest,  on  this  side  of  the 
water,  anything  political  or  even  warlike.  In  our  col- 
leges it  is  regarded  as  a  great  bore,  and  usually  those  who 
take  part  do  so  in  the  spirit  of  one  undergoing  med- 
ical treatment.  We  have  to  live  ourselves  into  the  Ger- 
man life  to  realize  that  Jahn  was  doing  on  his  gymnastic 
field  a  revolutionary  work — wras  arousing  the  German 
spirit  in  lads  who  would  be  soon  shouldering  a  musket, 
was  training  patriots  in  the  art  of  war,  was  singing  with 
them  the  songs  of  liberty,  was  awakening  in  the  nation 
at  large  the  consciousness  of  power  and  the  hope  that 
Germany  might  some  day  be  free.  On  this  Berlin  gym- 
nastic field  Jahn  was  drilling  the  minute-men  of  the 
German  revolution ;  not  with  muskets,  it  is  true,  but 
with  every  means  short  of  those  likely  to  excite  the 
alarm  of  French  officials.  And  as  the  minute-men  of 
AVorcester,  of  Bristol,  of  Hartford  and  New  Haven 
sprang  to  the  call  of  their  country  when  liberty  was  at 
stake,  so  in  1813  did  the  boys  from  German  schools  and 
universities  flock  to  their  King  in  Breslau — from  Jena 

some  bear  the  names  of  places  beyond  the  Rocky  Mountains.  But 
otherwise  the  place  is  to-day  sadly  neglected — not  by  the  people,  but 
by  the  government. — P.  B. 


240  THE   GERMAN    STRUGGLE   FOR   LIBERTY 

and  Gottingen,  Berlin  and  Greifswald,  Halle  and  Magde- 
burg. 

The  King  did  not  believe  that  Germany  could  ever 
cope  with  Napoleon.  He  did  not  believe  in  his  people. 
He  did  not  believe  in  himself.  In  1813  the  spirit  of 
Jahn  and  Bliicher,  of  Stein  and  Arndt  and  the  other 
patriots,  proved  stronger  than  all  government  hinder- 
ances.  Though  Prussia  was  governmentally  the  ally 
of  Napoleon,  still  the  Prussian  people  declared  war  on 
their  own  account ;  at  Konigsberg  a  congress  of  repre- 
sentative citizens  voted  supplies,  and  men  were  march- 
ing to  join  their  regiments  before  the  King  had  made 
up  his  mind  whether  to  be  French  or  Prussian. 

He  was,  however,  carried  away  by  the  strong  national 
current  prevailing,  backed  as  it  was  by  the  help  of  Eng- 
land, Russia,  Sweden,  and  Austria. 

Jahn  in  1813  tramped  to  the  seat  of  war  before  war 
was  declared  ;  at  Breslau  he  joined  the  guerilla  corps  of 
Major  Liitzow,  and  was  its  most  energetic  recruiting 
agent  in  securing  for  it  men  from  the  whole  of  Ger- 
many, and  notably  men  from  the  most  educated  classes. 
Korner,  the  poet,  entered  its  ranks  as  a  private,  and 
wrote  his  most  stirring  battle  verses  while  wearing  the 
Liitzower  uniform.  These  verses  were  at  once  sung 
with  enthusiasm,  and  flew  from  camp  to  camp,  carry- 
ing new  hope  and  courage  to  the  devoted  army.  Jahn's 
first  task  as  volunteer  soldier  was  to  prepare  a  song-book 
for  the  men  of  tne  Liitzow  corps,  and  to  organize  an 
efficient  glee  club — a  work  which  in  war  had  more  than 
mere  poetic  value. 

From  Jahn's  entry  into  Berlin  with  the  manuscript  of 
his  Volksthum,  or  Folkdom,  under  his  arm,  on  Christmas 
of  1809,  down  to  the  battle  of  "Waterloo  and  the  disap- 
pearance of  Napoleon  to  St.  Helena,  Jahn  was  a  hero 


JAHN,  THE   PATRIOT  241 

not  merely  to  the  youth  and  people  of  Germany,  but  to 
the  government  as  well.  He  was  a  most  useful  man  to 
the  heads  of  the  state  by  his  knowledge  of  local  affairs, 
his  power  over  the  popular  mind,  and  his  zeal  for  the 
overthrow  of  French  rule.  And  as  long  as  war  against 
France  was  the  absorbing  task  of  King  and  people,  Jahn 
was  made  much  of.  He  stood  in  intimate  personal  re- 
lations with  the  chief  men  of  the  government,  and  in 
1814  received  a  government  salary  as  recognition  of  his 
past  and  prospective  services  to  the  state. 

After  the  battle  of  Waterloo,  Jahn,  with  the  rest  of  his 
fellow -liberators,  recognized  that  Germany  had  vindi- 
cated its  right  to  exist — but  little  more.  The  Germans 
of  the  war  had  gone  to  battle  for  unity  and  freedom — 
not  merely  to  save  the  Hohenzollerns  from  destruction, 
but  to  make  the  Hohenzollerns  the  head  of  a  United 
German  Empire.  When  the  war  closed  Jahn  felt  that 
the  work  had  been  but  half  done ;  Germany  had  no  con- 
stitution, nor  had  it  achieved  unity.  Bliicher  and  Gnei- 
senau  raged  in  anger  that  Alsace  had  not  been  restored 
to  the  empire ;  while  Stein  and  Arndt  looked  forward 
to  another  war  as  necessary. 

Jahn  went  on  drilling  his  classes  in  singing  and  gym- 
nastics, but  now  the  undercurrent  of  his  teaching  was  to 
reap  the  fruits  of  Waterloo — to  make  good  German  cit- 
izens, to  produce  a  desire  for  union  throughout  Germany 
and  pave  the  way  for  an  imperial  constitution. 

In  1817,  two  years  after  Waterloo,  he  commenced  a 
series  of  remarkable  lectures  on  Volksthum,  his  favorite 
theme  —  the  popular  life  and  thought.  The  lectures 
were  held  in  Berlin,  and  his  room  was  always  crowded. 
He  preached  the  gospel  of  German  culture,  German 
speech,  German  song,  German  unity,  as  opposed  to  the 
fashionable  cosmopolitanism  which  ended  in  disunion 
L— 16 


24fc  THE    GERMAN   STEUGGLE   FOE   LIBEETT 

and  defeat.  His  lectures  produced  immense  political 
effect,  for  in  all  minds  they  further  heightened  the  pre- 
vailing dissatisfaction  with  the  fruits  of  "Waterloo.  Of 
course  his  language  had  to  be  guarded,  so  as  to  avoid 
conflict  with  the  police. 

This  was  Jahn's  last  public  appearance  as  the  great 
and  universally  popular  German  hero.  He  lived  yet 
thirty -five  years,  and  was  a  delegate  to  the  diet  of 
1848 ;  but  from  the  year  1817  he  may  be  said  to  have 
been  lost  to  his  country,  snuffed  out  by  order  of  gov- 
ernment in  the  vigor  of  his  manhood,  when  his  facul- 
ties were  brightest  and  zeal  for  his  country  most 
active. 

In  1819  he  was  arrested  on  charge  of  treason  and  put 
into  prison  at  Spandau — the  same  prison  that  has  held  so 
many  recent  German  patriots.  Two  of  his  children  died 
while  he  was  in  confinement  awaiting  his  trial,  and  he 
was  not  allowed  to  follow  them  to  the  grave.  After  two 
years  of  arrest,  partly  in  Spandau  and  partly  in  Kiistrin, 
he  cleared  himself  of  the  specific  charge  brought  against 
him,  revolutionary  conspiracy ;  but,  instead  of  being  lib- 
erated, was  ordered  to  remain  under  police  watch — a 
species  of  convict  at  large  on  parole — and  remained  in 
this  suspicious  category  until  1840 — more  than  twenty 
years  from  the  time  of  his  arrest. 

Jahn's  patriotism  was  singularly  pure.  "We  have  no 
evidence  that  his  human  ambition  ever  soared  higher 
than  a  professorship  at  the  Berlin  University ;  and  while 
most  German  historians  affect  to  ignore  the  great  services 
he  has  rendered  to  Germany,  they  all  fail  to  discover 
a  stain  upon  his  character.  He  was  too  honest  for  the 
government  of  the  day,  and  threw  away  great  political 
prizes  because  he  persisted  in  preaching  the  truth  when 
the  Prussian  official  disliked  to  hear  it, 


JAHN,  THE  PATRIOT  243 

Jahn  fought  with  the  spirit  of  Luther,  and  shares  with 
the  great  reformer  enormous  popularity  amongst » the 
people,  for  whom  he  cheerfully  surrendered  his  person- 
al liberty,  and  would  willingly,  if  necessary,  have  laid 
down  his  life. 


XXIY 


HOW  THE  IRON  CROSS  CAME  TO  BE  FOUNDED 

"Luther  .  .  .  was  the  mightiest  man  of  his  century,  and  assisted  in  cre- 
ating it.  What  he  appeared  to  create  was  there  already  ;  but  he 
first  gave  it  life  so  that  the  people  could  see  what  it  was." — Arndt, 
1805,  Oeist  der  Zeit,  p.  39. 

THE  Iron  Cross  is  the  most  popular  war  medal  in 
Germany,  and,  like  many  another  popular  German  in- 
stitution, was  founded  in  a  time  of  great  national  dis- 
tress.     King  Frederick  William  III. 
is  commonly  credited  with  calling  this 
medal  into  existence  on  the  outbreak 
of  war  against  Napoleon  in  1813,  but 
in  spirit  the  Iron  Cross  was  created 
by  Gneisenau  in  the  black  days  of 
1811. 

Napoleon  in  that  year  was  threat- 
ening to  invade  Russia,  and  had  made 
large  additions  to  the  French  garri- 
sons in  and  about  Prussia.  Frederick 
"William  was  in  painful  need  of  mon- 
ey ;  the  French  indemnity  weighed 
heavily  upon  his  scanty  exchequer,  and  he  realized  that 
in  the  coming  war  there  would  be  nothing  to  prevent 
Prussia  being  again  tramped  over  by  one  or  more  of  the 
neighboring  states  at  war.  The  French  were  already 
in  possession  of  several  Prussian  fortresses,  and  there 


THE  IRON   CROSS 


HOW   THE    IKON   CROSS    CAME   TO    BE   FOUNDED  245 

was  every  reason  to  anticipate  that  Napoleon  meant  to 
use  this  country  as  his  prime  base  of  operations. 

The  King  became  thoroughly  alarmed  for  his  personal 
safety.  He  sent,  on  May  14,  1811,  a  most  humble  plea 
to  Napoleon,  which  in  formal  treaty  talk  sounded  fairly 
well,  but  in  plain  English  told  Napoleon  that  Prussia 
would  gladly  submit  to  any  humiliation  if  France  would 
only  promise  not  to  drive  him  from  the  throne.  The 
King  was  bold  enough  to  beg  some  abatement  of  the 
grinding  indemnity  ;  to  ask  for  the  return  of  one  or  two 
Prussian  fortresses,  and  to  be  allowed  a  larger  standing 
army  than  42,000  ;  but  in  return  France  was  offered  the 
use  of  the  Prussian  army  to  fight  French  battles  under 
any  and  all  circumstances.  In  other  words,  the  Prus- 
sian army  was  offered  to  Napoleon  as  part  payment  for 
a  war  indemnity  arranged  at  the  Peace  of  Tilsit.  Na- 
poleon was  by  this  time,  however,  too  blind  in  matters 
political  to  see  his  own  interests.  He  ignored  this 
message. 

But  for  this  silence  of  Napoleon  we  might  never  have 
heard  of  an  Iron  Cross  in  Germany.  The  King  had  per- 
sistently opposed  every  suggestion  looking  to  a  popular 
army  of  citizen  volunteers,  for  he  dreaded  his  people 
more  than  he  did  the  French.  But  one  thing  he  dreaded 
more  even  than  his  people,  and  that  was  the  loss  of  his 
throne.  As  between  losing  his  throne  and  appealing  to 
his  people,  he  finally  decided  to  make  a  great  sacrifice, 
and  asked  advice  of  the  soldier  who  had  been  in  Amer- 
ica— Gneisenau. 

Gneisenau  could  not  come  openly  to  the  King  in  Ber- 
lin, but  in  secret  he  left  his  farm  in  Breslau,  and  was 
smuggled  into  the  presence  of  the  Prime-Minister,  Har- 
denberg,  at  a  little  suburb  of  Berlin  called  Glienicke,  on 
the  21st  of  June,  1811.  The  chief  of  police  assisted  in 


246  THE   GERMAN   STRUGGLE    FOR    LIBERTY 

the  smuggling;  and  no  doubt  Gneisenau  would  have 
been  shot  like  Palm  or  Schill  had  Napoleon  heard  what 
their  talk  was  about.  The  King  allowed  Gneisenau  a 
salary  of  2500  thalers — say  $1875,  or  £375 — a  year,  and 
he  went  to  live  quietly  in  Berlin  at  a  house  in  Unter  den 
Linden,  giving  the  French  to  understand  that  he  had 
given  up  all  interest  in  soldiering,  and  was  there  for  his 
private  amusement. 

Here  he  drew  up  a  memorial  for  the  King,  which  was 
handed  in  on  the  8th  of  August.  No  such  revolutionary 
programme  had  ever  been  prepared  for  a  Prussian  mon- 
arch, and  the  fact  that  its  author  was  not  sent  at  once 
to  prison  shows  that  the  Prussia  of  1811  was  not  the 
same  Prussia  that  marched  gayly  to  Jena. 

Gneisenau  commenced  by  assuming  that  Prussia  was 
on  the  verge  of  being  destroyed  by  Napoleon,  and  he 
therefore  opened  with  the  following  proposition : 

"  Since  Prussia  is  threatened  with  invasion  that  means 
annihilation  (  Vernichtung),  the  royal  family  must  seek 
its  safety  and  support  in  a  popular  call  to  arms  ( Volks- 
auf stand)"  The  King  annotated  this  paragraph  with 
his  own  hands :  "  The  proposed  struggle  for  existence 
(Karnpf  der  Verzweiflung)  is  no  doubt  better  and  more 
honorable  than  voluntarily  passing  under  the  yoke." 

Gneisenau  elaborately  worked  out  a  plan  of  insur- 
rectionary warfare,  the  details  of  which  must  have  been 
familiar  to  him  in  America.  All  Prussia  was  mapped 
out  into  districts,  each  district  to  be  under  the  control 
of  a  confidential  agent,  each  such  agent  to  be  known  at 
headquarters,  but  no  correspondence  to  pass  between 
the  conspirators  in  different  parts  of  the  country.  The 
whole  scheme  was  a  vast  conspiracy,  and  the  greatest 
precautions  had  to  be  observed  lest  Napoleon  should 
get  wind  of  it  and  hang  the  ringleaders  without  trial. 


HOW   THE   IKON   CKOSS   CAME   TO   BE   FOUNDED  247 

The  whole  country  was  to  organize  volunteer  troops. 
"  They  shall  organize  in  the  neighborhood  of  their  own 
homes ;  they  shall  elect  their  own  officers  and  non-com- 
missioned officers.  To  begin  with,  they  may  be  started 
by  half -pay  retired  officers."  Gneisenau  proposed  to 
arm  them  with  pikes  *  until  they  could  get  arms  from 
England.f  The  example  of  Jena  was  fresh  in  every 
mind,  and  so  Gneisenau  proposed  the  penalty  of  death 
for  any  one  assisting  the  French  by  furnishing  supplies 
or  accepting  any  administrative  post.  His  idea  was  to 
starve  the  French  out,  if  every  other  means  failed. 
Clergymen  were  to  preach  the  duty  of  citizenship  from 
the  pulpit,  to  which  the  King  made  this  observation : 
"  As  soon  as  the  French  shoot  one  parson,  the  whole 
movement  will  collapse." 

Gneisenau  had  difficulty  in  preserving  his  temper 
while  the  King  made  criticisms  upon  the  plan  for  saving 
his  throne.  He  went  on  to  explain  how  the  militia  must 
operate,  hiding  by  day  in  the  woods,  surprising  the  ene- 
my at  night  like  North  American  Indians,  worrying 
them  all  the  time.  He  recommended  the  simplest  tac- 
tics, mainly  to  load  and  shoot.  The  King  made  a  run- 
ning accompaniment  to  the  effect  that  Prussians  were 

*  "  I  had  a  pike  made,  and  studded  it  with  sharp  spikes,  that  no  one 
might  seize  it  by  the  hand.  I  had,  besides,  a  French  infantry  sword, 
and  I  bought  myself  a  pair  of  pistols,  which  at  that  time  were  very 
expensive,  owing  to  the  great  demand.  These  I  wore  in  my  belt.  We 
were  called  together  for  drill  under  the  command  of  former  army  of- 
ficers. Many  wonderful  things  happened  in  these  drills,  for  it  was 
that  of  the  Prussian  infantry."  And  Kloden  (p.  311)  goes  on  to  re- 
late the  absurdities  that  occurred  from  using  the  pike  as  though  it  had 
been  a  musket. 

f  It  is  difficult  to  bear  in  mind  that  while  the  Prussian  King  was  ne- 
gotiating with  Napoleon  the  sale  of  his  army  to  France,  he  was  at  the 
same  time  soliciting  the  aid  of  England,  France's  chief  antagonist. 
The  situation  was  so  anomalous  as  to  be  almost  incredible. — P.  B. 


248  THE   GERMAN    STRUGGLE   FOR    LIBERTY 

too  stupid  to  do  such  work,  and  that  the  whole  thing 
would  fall  to  pieces  as  soon  as  the  French  showed  them- 
selves. 

Those  were  iron  days,  and  Gneisenau  applied  iron 
measures.  He  was  advocating  the  principle  that  each 
citizen  was  bound  to  spill  his  blood  in  defence  of  his 
country,  and  therefore  urged  that  no  young  man  should 
be  allowed  to  inherit  property  unless  he  had  served  in 
the  army,  that  he  should  not  be  allowed  to  give  testi- 
mony in  court,  or  even  to  take  the  holy  communion 
with  his  neighbors. 

On  the  other  hand,  Gneisenau  proposed  that  every 
man  who  had  served  faithfully  should  wear  for  the  rest 
of  his  life  an  honorable  distinction,  either  a  black-and- 
white  scarf  or  a  national  cockade ;  and  here  was  the 
idea  of  the  Iron  Cross. 

The  King  thought  well  of  the  decoration  in  general, 
but  did  not  approve  of  limiting  it  to  the  citizen  sol- 
dier. He  wished  it  extended  to  all  his  army,  and  thus 
robbed  it  of  much  of  its  peculiar  value.  The  original 
"  Iron  Cross  "  was  to  consist  of  two  pieces  of  black-and- 
white  ribbon  sewed  on  to  the  breast  in  the  shape  of  a 
cross.  The  colors  were  those  of  Prussia ;  the  shape 
suggested  the  famous  cross  of  the  order  of  German 
Knights — a  happy  blending  of  national  with  imperial 
aspirations. 

Of  course  in  practice  the  King's  idea  proved  awkward, 
for  it  involved  sewing  and  resewing  the  slips  of  ribbon 
each  time  that  a  coat  was  changed.  The  Cross  was 
finally  made  of  iron,  less  from  sentiment  than  from  ex- 
treme poverty.  It  became,  however,  the  most  precious 
of  war  medals  in  the  eyes  of  the  German  soldier.  It  was 
not  given  away,  like  so  many  medals,  for  merely  courtly 
services,  but  had  to  be  earned  upon  the  field  of  battle ; 


HOW   THE   IKON   CROSS  CAME   TO   BE   FOUNDED  249 

and  the  field-marshal  had  to  earn  it  no  less  than  the 
youngest  recruit. 

In  this  famous  document  Gneisenau  insisted  that  ti- 
tles of  nobility  should  henceforth  be  given  only  to  such 
as  earned  them  by  serving  their  country,  that  the  Prus- 
sian aristocrats  should  be  degraded  if  they  failed  in  this 
duty,  and  that  henceforth  the  nobleman  should  be  the 
man  who  served  his  country  best. 

Gneisenau  also  urged  the  King  to  cease  using  the 
French  language,  and  to  insist  that  those  about  him  cul- 
tivate the  tongue  of  the  people. 

The  King  approved  in  general  of  the  plan,  and,  had 
Queen  Luise  been  at  his  side,  would  no  doubt  have  put 
it  into  immediate  operation. 

Gneisenau,  Bliicher,  Scharnhorst,  and  Hardenberg 
worked  in  unison  throughout ;  they  gave  the  agents  of 
England  positive  assurance  that  the  Prussian  King 
would  never  be  ally  of  France  ;  that  in  the  event  of  Na- 
poleon assuming  a  menacing  position,  the  King  would 
retire  from  Berlin,  appeal  to  his  people,  and  Prussia 
would  fight  the  war  of  insurrection  like  the  peasants  of 
Spain  and  Tyrol.  Nor  were  these  patriots  dishonest  in 
this ;  they  believed  what  they  said,  and  believed  what 
their  King  had  said.  But  the  King  was  too  weak  to  fol- 
low them. 

In  October,  1811,  Bliicher  was  disgraced  for  strength- 
ening the  defences  of  Colberg,  and  Napoleon  had  the 
impudence  to  send  his  agents  openly  about  Prussia  to 
see  that  no  other  fortresses  were  being  strengthened — 
all  this,  too,  with  the  King's  consent. 

On  November  5th,  Scharnhorst,  who  had  been  sent  on  a 
secret  mission  to  St.  Petersburg,  returned  full  of  enthusi- 
asm, for  the  Czar  had  promised  assistance  against  Napo- 
leon, and  was  arming  for  the  coming  fight.  But  Fred- 


250  THE    GERMAN   STRUGGLE    FOR   LIBERTY 

erick  William  did  not  choose  to  wait  one  day  for  this 
message.  On  November  4th  he  declared  himself  for  the 

O 

alliance  with  Napoleon,  and  bound  himself  to  go  to  war 
with  him  against  Russia  and  England.  Prussia  was  to 
place  20,000  men  under  Napoleon's  orders,  and  with  him 
invade  the  land  of  the  King's  friend  and  ally,  Alex- 
ander.* 

On  February  22,  1812,  Napoleon  compelled  the  Prus- 
sian envoy  in  Paris  to  sign  the  treaty  which  handed 
over  Prussia  to  Napoleon's  caprice.  Bliicher  wrote  to 
Gneisenau  in  these  days :  "  Frederick  the  II.  [the  Great] 
after  a  lost  battle  wrote,  'All  is  lost  save  honor.'  Now 
we  write,  'All  is  lost,  and  honor  into  the  bargain.' " 

And  honest  old  Bliicher  voiced  the  general  feeling 
amongst  patriotic  Germans.  Three  hundred  officers  im- 
mediately forwarded  their  resignations  to  the  King, 
which  he  accepted  with  a  bad  grace.  On  March  15th 
Davoust  once  more  occupied  Berlin  in  Napoleon's  name, 
and  the  whole  of  Prussia  was  flooded  with  men  of  the 
"  Grand  Army  "  concentrating  upon  the  Eussian  frontier. 
The  King  was  allowed  to  keep  1200  men  about  him  in 
Potsdam,  but  was  virtually  a  hostage  in  French  hands. 

*  The  suppression  of  public  opinion  was  important  in  these  days, 
and  on  November  11,  1811,  the  Berlin  chief  of  police,  acting  under 
orders  of  the  Prime-Minister,  forbade  the  publication  of  anything  of  a 
political  nature  unless  the  government  had  first  granted  express  per- 
mission. From  the  censorship  reports  that  are  preserved  in  the  Ber- 
lin archives  to-day  it  would  seem  as  though  the  Prussian  government 
was  concerned  mainly  with  the  suppression  of  matter  that  could 
wound  the  feelings  of  Napoleon. — P.  B. 


END   OF   VOLUME   I 


nr  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

A  A      000040830  2 


